RELIGION  IN  SOCIETY, 


OR  THE 


SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS, 

PLACED    WITHIN 

THE  REACH  OF  EVERY  MIND. 

TRANSLATED  PR03I  THE  FRENCH  OF  THE  ABBE  MARTINET. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  HUGHES,  D.D. 

ARCHBISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 
FOURTH   EDITION. 


VOL.    I. 


N  E  \V-YORK  : 

D.  &  J.  SADLIER,  &  CO.,  IG-i  WILLIAM  STREET. 
BOSTON: — 128  FJcaERAL-sTRftRT. 

MONTREAL,  C.  E: 
CORXER  OF  XOTRE-DAME  AXD  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIEIJ   STREirTS. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1850, 

By  D.   &  J.   SADLIER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New- York. 


VINOHNT  L.  DILL.  Stereotyper, 
128  Fulton-street,  N.  Y. 


INTRODUCTION 


BY  THE 


MOST  REV,  JOHN  HUGHES,  D,D, 

ARCHBISHOP    OF    NEW   YORK. 


THE  work  of  which  these  volumes  are  a  translation  has  been  very 
extensively  read  and  much  spoken  of  in  France,  where  it  was  first 
published.  It  passes  under  review  a  great  variety  of  interesting  topics, 
bearing  on  Religion  and  Society,  which  the  author  has  arranged  in  an 
appropriate  order,  and  discussed  with  more  than  ordinary  tact  and 
ability.  His  labors  in  the  Catholic  cause  are  not  unworthy  of  being 
placed  next  to  those  of  Moehler  and  Balmez.  It  has  not,  indeed,  the 
metaphysical  depth  of  the  one,  nor  yet  the  tranquil  scientific  spirit 
and  arrangement  of  the  other.  But  for  the  masses,  as  a  popular  man- 
ual against  the  discordant  but  numerous  errors  of  the  day,  it  is  per- 
haps superior  to  either. 

It  bears  in  the  original  the  stamp  of  French  national  genius,  which  will 
not  take  away  from  its  interest  in  the  translation.  No  country  in 
Europe  has  exhibited  so  desperate  and  protracted  a  struggle  between 
truth  and  error,  as  that  which  has  been  going  on  in  France  with  almost 
unabated  earnestness  during  the  last  seventy-five  or  eighty  years.  In 
no  other  country  have  errors  of  almost  every  description  found  such 
able  and  enthusiastic  advocates.  But  on  the  other  hand,  no  nation 
beside  has  furnished,  during  the  same  period,  so  brilliant  an  array  of 
great  and  glorious  men  engaged  in  the  defence  of  truth.  Every  error 
whether  against  faith  or  morals,  against  society  or  humanity  has  been 
taken  up  as  soon  as  broached,  examined,  exposed  and  triumphantly 
refuted. 

Whoever  has  paid  any  attention  to  the  more  recent  wanderings  of 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 


the  human  mind,  must  have  obsei  ved  that  within  the  last  quarter  <>f 
a  century,  the  system  which  the  spirit  of  error  had  previonsl , 
ted  in  making  war  on  truth,  has  been  entirely  changed.  Former.1. 
its  advocates  were  in  the  habit  of  appealing  sometimes  to  Scripture 
and  at  all  times  to  human  reason,  in  support  of  its  destructive  theories 
But  the  defenders  of  truth  pressing  closely  on  its  march,  possessed  ot 
equal  ability  and  a  better  cause,  had  exposed  its  fallacies  and  made  i) 
clear  that  both  Scripture  and  reason  with  one  voice  repudiated  its  bad 
principles  and  false  doctrines.  Hence  the  change  of  tactics.  At  pre- 
sent the  appeals  to  Scripture  and  lo  reason  are  few  and  feeble.  The 
advocates  of  error,  who  would  regard  it  as  a  merciful  dispensation  if 
religion  were  once  for  all  banished  from  the  thoughts  of  men,  have 
learned  to  disguise  their  enmity,  and  to  speak  of  religion  with  affected 
hypocrisy  and  expansive  hollowness.  To  attack  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
they  have  discovered,  would  be  to  sound  the  alarm.  To  appeal  to 
reason  for  support,  would  be  to  expose  the  threadbare  condition  of 
their  hopes,  as  well  as  their  cause.  Hence  the  actual  phase  which 
the  spirit  of  error  presents  at  this  moment,  in  its  mode  of  warfare 
against  God  and  man,  is  different  from  any  thing  that  it  has  hitherto 
exhibited.  It  now  stoops  to  cajole,  to  flatter,  to  enlist,  to  conciliate 
and  bring  into  coalition  with  itself,  the  mere  sensual,  faculties  sus- 
ceptibilities and  passions  of  our  poor  fallen  nature.  Having  lost  its 
cause  before  the  high  tribunal  of  public  reason,  to  which  it  had  for- 
merly appealed,  it  would  now  accept  a  favorable  verdict  from  the  low 
animal  feelings  and  propensities,  by  which  man,  especially  when  he 
indulges  them,  is  most  nearly  assimilated  to  the  brute  creation.  It 
elevates  the  sentient  faculties  above  the  intellectual,  the  lowest  attri- 
butes of  our  nature  above  the  highest,  which  it  treats  with  indifference 
or  affects  to  ignore.  It  confines  its  zeal  to  the  condition  of  man, 
in  his  present  state,  and  adjourns  the  question  of  his  eternal  future. 
It  sheds  bitter  tears  of  sympathy  over  the  miseries  to  which  God  (that 
is,  if  it  admits  such  a  being)  in  the  actual  economy,  has  left  him  exposed. 
It  insinuates  and  proclaims  aloud,  where  it  can  do  so  with  impunity, 
that,  in  providing  for  the  temporal  well-being  of  man,  religion  has 
proved  recreant  to  its  mission,  and  society  has  abused  and  betrayed  its 
(rust  In  contrast  with  the  actual  inequalities  and  sufferings  which 
afflict  our  race,  it  spreads  out  before  us  its  embellished  and  tempting 
theories  of  society  organized  on  new  and  imaginary  principles.  The 
family,  the  school,  the  guild,  the  State,  the  Church,  all  and  each  must 
be  remodeled,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  wants,  the  wishes,  the 
complex  tastes,  the  sympathies,  the  varied  susceptibilities  and  special 


INTRODUCTION. 


aptitudes  of  men  and  women,  individually  considered,  as  they  shall 
be  found  in  this  "  Paradise  Regained,"  which  the  spirit  of  error  is 
preparing  for  the  future  abode  of  "  humanity." 

Yes,  all  "  humanity,"  no  Divinity.  A  God,  a  Christ,  Redemption, 
Revelation,  Grace,  Sacraments,  a  blessed  and  beautiful  connexion, 
between  man's  present  condition  and  his  future  state  —  these  the  spirit 
of  error  treats  in  the  present  day  with  the  courtesy  of  silent  indiffer- 
ence, or  ill-disguised  contempt.  It  does  not  quarrel  with  its  dupes  for 
believing  and  hoping  in  them  all.  To  do  so  would  be  at  variance 
equally  with  its  policy  and  its  politeness. 

But,  to  mitigate  the  strictness  of  human  and  divine  laws,  to  build 
palaces  for  the  future  abode  of  the  working  classes  where  hovels  now 
stand ;  to  hold  out  to  them  gilded  promises  of  warm  clothing  in 
winter,  and  light  dresses  in  summer  ;  to  abridge  their  hours  of  labor 
and  augment  its  compensation  ;  to  economize  thus  abundant  leisure 
during  which  "  humanity"  may  play  on  the  piano,  and  improve  itself 
by  reading  reviews,  novels  and  newspapers;  to  anticipate  and  provide 
for  a  broad  margin  in  domestic  and  social  manners,  on  the  central  and 
dividing  line  of  which,  like  shall  meet  like  by  sympathetic  affinity,  and 
mutual  attraction  ;  in  short,  to  dazzle  the  eye  and  seduce  the  hearts  of 
the  suffering  portion  of  our  race  by  a  cruel,  because  visionary,  exhibi- 
tion of  such  results,  which  cannot  be  realized,  and  which  in  many 
respects  would  be  execrable  if  they  could,  is  the  latest  and  actual 
system  of  warfare  against  both  God  and  man,  which  is  now  being  pro- 
claimed and  carried  on  by  the  spirit  of  error  and  its  living,  speaking 
and  writing  agents  and  advocates. 

There  is  much  low,  mean  cunning  in  this  system.  It  erects  human- 
ity into  the  Idol  and  calls  upon  men  to  reverence,  worship  and  adore 
their  own  fallen  nature.  It  does  not  mention  the  fact,  that  in  this 
worship,  the  priest  and  the  Deity  are  one  and  the  same.  The  former 
swings  the  censor,  it  is  true,  but  the  fragrance  of  the  burning  incense 
reaches  only  his  own  nostrils  —  for  he  is  "humanity." 

God  and  revelation,  the  Church,  Scripture  and  even  reason,  though 
not  specially  proscribed,  are  left  out,  or  considered  as  topics  of  sheer 
indifference,  in  this  new  complex  heresy,  emanating  not  so  much  from 
the  wandering  ol  the  human  mind  as  from  the  passions  of  the  human 
heart.  It  is  known  in  different  countries  by  different  names;  and  the 
leveral  schools  into  which  its  advocates  are  divided  are  contending  as 
to  which  will  have  the  honor  of  giving  it  ultimate  stability  of  shape, 
form  and  dimensions.  So  far  as  it  is  yet  known  in  the  United  States, 
its  minor  degrees  may  be  all  comprehended  in  its  aggregate  term  — 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 


transcendentalism.  Its  oracles  have  invented  for  its  communication  to 
the  world,  a  special  but  very  indefinite  style  of  their  own.  They 
employ  accurate  Anglo-Saxon  terms  to  express,  whether  in  speech,  or 
in  writing,  the  abstract  sentimentalities,  vague  aspirations  and  unjointed 
affections,  which  they  offer  to  the  public  as  substitutes  for  those  per- 
manent convictions  by  which  mankind  have  been  held  together  so 
long,  but  which  are  now  to  be  removed  and  overthrown.  Their  expo- 
sitions, it  is  true,  of  the  new  system  are  a  compound  of  the  sublime 
and  ridiculous,  in  equal  proportions.  They  are  sublime,  inasmuch  as 
the  people  to  whom  they  are  addressed,  wonder  at  their  eloquence, 
whilst  they  can  only  catch  feeble  and  evanescent  glimpses  of  their 
meaning ;  ridiculous,  because  the  authors  themselves,  as  to  their  own 
meaning,  are  precisely  in  the  same  predicament. 

Still  whether  such  exhibitions  are  sublime  or  ridiculous  or  both 
together,  the  progress  of  the  doctrines  which  they  are  intended  to 
propagate  cannot  but  be  productive  of  serious  damage  to  the  cause  of 
religion  ;  in  all  its  good  influences  on  society.  Some  of  the  grounds 
on  which  this  conclusion  is  founded,  are  obvious  to  all.  Protestantism 
is  drifting,  or  rather  has  drifted,  in  all  directions,  from  its  primeval 
and  central  moorings.  True,  it  still  professes  to  cling  to  the  Bible,  as 
its  anchor ;  but  thread  by  thread  and  twist  by  twist,  ils  friends  have 
been  undoing  the  cable,  by  the  strength  of  which  it  supposed  itself 
riding  in  safety.  The  Bible  among  Protestants  has  been  made  a  com- 
mon anchor  for  religious  error  as  well  as  for  religious  truth.  Accord- 
ingly, when  we  reflect  on  the  success  with  which  Mormonism,  Miller- 
ism,  and  other  extravagances  have  recently  appealed  to  Protestantism 
for  sympathy  and  sustenance,  we  are  forced  to  conclude  that,  so  far  as 
the  truth  of  revelation  and  religion  are.  concerned,  the  Protestant  mind 
has  been  weakened  by  the  successive  shocks  which  it  has  had  to 
undergo,  and  is  wearing  down  by  the  daily  abrasions  and  attritions  to 
which  it  is  exposed,  between  the  bold  enunciation  of  religious  errors, 
claiming  a  Biblical  sanction,  on  one  side,  and  the  ambiguous,  timid 
and  stammering  defence  of  religious  truth,  on  the  other.  It  began  its 
own  unhappy  career  by  rejecting  the  "  cloud  by  day,"  and  having  thus 
violated  the  condition  on  which  the  privilege  of  guidance  was  vouch- 
safed to  man  by  pitying  Heaven,  the  "pillar  of  fire  by  night"  has 
equally  disappeared  from  its  vision 

If  the  Protestant  mind  be  itself  thus  debilitated  and  defenceless,  how 
can  it  protect  Christianity  against  the  stealthy  and  subtle  approaches 
of  the  passion-god  which  the  spirit  of  error  is  no  v  introducing  among 
men,  to  be  worshipped  under  the  name  cf  "  humanity." 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 


But  the  children  of  the  Catholic  Church  themselves,  although  they 
have  the  rock  of  ages  to  stand,  and  the  pillar  of  truth  to  lean  upon 
for  support,  are  yet  not  beyond  the  reach  of  danger  from  the  rising 
heresy.  Already  \ve  have  observed  unmistakeable  symptoms  of  the 
new  infection,  in  the  speeches  and  writings  of  some  who  still  call  them- 
selves Catholics.  Their  religious  health  must  have  been  already  un- 
sound, or  the  poison  could  not  have  taken  such  precocious  effect. 
One  of  the  worst  signs  of  their  malady  is  that  they  labor  with  desper- 
ate zeal  to  inoculate  wilh  its  virus  all  who  come  within  the  reach  of 
their  influence.  We  would  recommend  them  to  procure  a  brochure 
published  by  our  author,  and  which  attracted  much  attention  at  the 
time,  under  the  quaint  title  of  "A  Cure  for  the  Bite  of  the  Black 
Serpent." 

Whether,  then,  as  enabling  Protestants  to  preserve  those  doctrines 
of  Christianity  to  which  they  still  cling,  as  "  fundamental ;"  or  as 
enabling  the  Catholic  to  stand  forewarned  and  on  his  guard,  not  for  his 
Church  or  its  doctrines,  but  for  himself;  the  work  which  is  now 
offered  to  the  American  public  in  an  English  dress  is  one  which  in  my 
opinion  cannot  be  too  widely  circulated.  It  treats  of  many  errors 
besides  that  to  which  special  attention  has  been  directed  in  these 
introductory  remarks.  I  mean  that  vague,  misshapen  and  as  yet  in- 
definite heresy  of  the  passions,  which  is  now  springing  forth  and  is 
daily  giving  signs  of  dangerous  and  increasing  vitality.  When  origin- 
ally published  in  France,  this  work  was  hailed  with  general  approbation 
as  equally  able  and  opportune.  I  cannot  doubt  but  that  in  its  new  dress 
it  will  be  received  in  this  country  with  similar  tokens  of  approval.  The 
translation  has  been  accomplished  by  one  highly  competent  and  in  every 
way  qualified  for  the  task.  It  is  not  a  little  difficult  to  give  a  good 
translation  of  such  a  work,  and  yet  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  it  has 
been  executed,  in  this  instance,  with  taste,  judgment  and  fidelity. — 
These  volumes  will  come  to  the  American  reader  with  pleasing  fresh- 
ness and  novelty.  They  will  take  their  place  amongst  our  standard 
works  of  literature,  and  both  the  gifted  and  accomplished  translator 
and  the  spirited  publishers  will  have  merited,  and  I  trust  will  receive, 
the  sincere  thanks  and  liberal  patronage  of  the  Catholic  and  literary 
public. 


TRANSLATOR'S    NOTE. 

THE  original  work,  of  which  the  first  portion  is  now  offered  to  the  public, 
consists  of  four  volumes  in  two  parts,  published  at  different  times.  If  the 
present  volumes  should  receive  sufficient  encouragement  to  warrant  the 
undertaking,  they  will  be  followed  by  the  two  remaining  volumes  at  an 
early  day. 


THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

WHAT  IT   IS  TO   BE   A   MAN. 

To  be  a  man  is  not  to  eat,  drink  and  sleep,  as  so  many 
imagine.  The  animal  does  all  that,  and  much  better  than 
we.  He  eats  and  does  not  suffer  from  indigestion ;  he  drinks 
and  never  staggers ;  he  sleeps,  and  the  sun  always  finds  his 
couch  empty. 

To  be  a  man  is  not  to  build  houses  and  cities.  Whilst  we 
laboriously  arrange  the  pjan  of  a  habitation,  the  bird  con- 
structs one,  complete  in  convenience,  solidity  and  elegance. 
The  prince  royal  reposes  less  luxuriously  in  his  gilded  apart- 
ments, than  the  young  linnet  in  its  aerial  palace.  The  beaver 
builds  large  villages  and  towns,  and  our  engineers  admire  the 
perfection  of  his  embankments. 

To  be  a  man  is  not  to  ascend  in  space,  nor  fly  over  the 
surface  of  the  earth  behind  a  cloud  of  smoke.  The  smallest 
gnat  could  instruct  our  best  aeronauts,  and  surpasses  our  loco- 
motives in  swiftness.  He  never  breaks  his  neck  against  a 
tree,  nor  is  crushed  by  a  fall  because  he  has  heedlessly  lost 
his  wings. 

We  must  not  believe  that  the  arts  in  themselves  give  us  a 
real  superiority  over  the  animals.  Destined  to  satisfy  wants 
which  die  animal  never  experiences,  or  which  he  provides  for 


10  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PUOBLEiMS. 

at  a  less  expense,  they  are  rather  a  proof  of  our  physical 
inferiority.  Our  manufactures  will  never  produce  a  fabric, 
equal  in  durability  and  beauty  to  that  which  covers  the  sable. 
There  is  no  animal  that  would  change  with  us. 

In  general,  as  to  everything  that  appertains  to  the  preser- 
vation and  comfort  of  the  individual,  and  the  species,  the 
animal  shows  himself  better  provided,  better  instructed,  and 
more  moral  than  we. 

What  is  it  then  that  makes  us  men,  and  leads  us  to  regard 
the  name  of  animal  as  a  reproach  ?  Every  one  answers :  it 
is  reason ;  it  is  intellect.  But  is  it  intellect  itself,  or  the  use 
that  is  made  of  it,  which  places  us  at  an  immeasurable  dis- 
tance from  the  brute  ?  The  latter  is  perfect  in  its  kind,  because 
it  is  all  that  it  can  be  :  it  uses  freely  the  faculties  it  has  receiv- 
ed, and  never  buries  any  of  its  talents.  If  man  neglected  the 
sublime  gift  of  intellect,  or,  what  is  worse,  if  he  abused  it,  he 
would  sink  beneath  the  animal.  To  be  a  brute,  with  the 
power  of  not  being  so,  is  to  be  more  a  brute  than  the  brute 
itself. 

We  are  men  then  only  so  far  as  we  are  guided  by  reason, 
and  make  use  of  our  intellect. 


CHAPTER    II. 

IN   WHAT    CONSISTS   THE    USE    OF   THE    INTELLECT. 

THE  intellect,  being  the  faculty  of  discerning  truth  from 
falsehood,  good  from  evil,  is  only  made  use  of,  in  proportion 
as  we  know  the  truth  with  regard  to  the  points  that  are  most 
important  to  us,  and  as  we  conform  our  conduct  to  it.  No\v, 
what  are  the  things  which  it  is  most  important  for  us  to  know. 


THE    USE    OF    THE    INTELLECT.  11 

Are  they  the  animals  that  surround  us,  the  plants  that  we 
trample  under  our  feet,  the  stars  that  roll  over  our  heads  ? 
Not  at  all.  Vanity  apart,  of  all  the  animals  which  people 
the  round  globe,  the  most  interesting,  in  my  opinion,  is  one- 
self. I  see  them  all  occupied  with  themselves ;  why  should  ] 
not  do  the  same.  Before  asking  what  they  are,  it  seems  to 
me  natural  to  know  what  I  am.  I  say  the  same  of  the  plants 
and  the  stars;  I  will  study  them  as  soon  as  by  a  profound 
study  of  myself,  it  shall  be  demonstrated  to  me  that  nature 
has  imposed  on  me  no  other  task  than  to  watch  the  stars,  or 
collect  herbs  and  flowers. 

The  truly  important  question  for  me  is  then  this :  What 
am  I  ?  Whence  do  I  come  ?  W^here  am  I  going  ?  What 
is  the  beginning  and  end  of  my  existence  ?  In  fact  on  this 
point  depends  the  whole  movement  of  my  life.  According 
as  I  recognise  in  myself  an  immortal  spirit,  or  a  handful 
of  organized  dust,  which  will  be  dispersed  at  the  first  breath 
of  death,  I  shall  give  to  my  thoughts  and  actions  a  very  diff- 
erent direction.  While  I  am  uncertain  what  to  believe  on 
this  subject,  I  shall  be  confused,  ignorant  if  I  am  doing 
right  or  wrong,  if  I  advance  or  recede.  Following  only  the 
impulse  of  my  appetites,  I  shall  be  like  the  animal,  and  even 
in  a  worse  condition.  The  appetites  of  the  brute  regulated 
by  a  superior  reason  are  laws,  and  never  cause  his  destruction. 
Mine,  on  the  contrary  are  false  and  perverse  if  reason  does 
not  correct  them.  How  many  men  daily  perish,  the  victims 
of  excesses  unknown  to  the  brute !  Vainly  then  do  I  flatter 
myself  that  I  am  a  man,  vainly  do  I  repudiate  the  name  of 
animal  if  I  have  not  found  a  complete  solution  to  this  great 
question :  from  whence  do  I  come  ? 


12  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    III. 

VARIOUS    SOLUTIONS. 

THE  solutions  given  to  this  question  at  the  present  day 
may  be  reduced  to  four. 

From  whence  does  man  come  ?  I  do  not  know,  and  I  care 
not  to  know,  answer  the  indifferent. 

Man,  says  the  pantheist,  is  one  of  the  innumerable  fractions 
of  absolute  unity,  a  modification,  a  transient  form  of  the 
great  whole. 

Man,  says  the  atheist,  is  the  work  of  nature,  the  sponta- 
neous production  of  the  earth,  a  very  singular  effect  of  that 
blind  force  which  animates  eternal  matter. 

Man,  says  the  Christian  philosopher,  is  the  work  of  an 
infinite  intelligence  and  power,  which  existing  alone  from  all 
eternity  said,  at  the  beginning  of  time :  Let  the  universe  and 
man  be ;  and  the  universe  and  man  were. 

Of  these  four  solutions,  which  is  the  most  rational,  the 
most  worthy  of  a  man  ? 


CHAPTER    IV. 

SOLUTION    OF   THE    INDIFFERENT. 

Ignorance  is  generally  a  thing  of  which  no  one  boasts. 
The  appellation  ignorant  is  every  where  esteemed  injurious, 
and  synonymous  with  brute.  It  is  the  custom  to  parry  it, 
in  the  street  by  a  blow ;  in  the  saloons  by  a  sword-thrust. 
The  words,  "  I  do  not  know,"  "  I  am  ignorant,"  which  should 


SOLUTION    OF    THE    INDIFFERENT.  13 

be  in  such  common  use,  seem  a  foreign  language,  when  we 
speak  of  questions  however  trivial.  There  are  persons  from 
whom  one  could  more  easily  tear  their  beard  hair  by  hair 
than  exact  from  them  expressions  so  uncouth. 

How  is  it  then  that  these  modes  of  speech,  in  matters  of 
religion,  far  from  appearing  humiliating,  have  something 
pleasing  in  certain  literary  and  scientific  illustrations  ?  How 
is  it  that  a  man  of  talent  believes  himself  disgraced  if  he  is 
thought  to  be  occupied  with  religion  ?  Is  it  because  nothing  is 
so  popular  as  religious  instruction  ?  But  this  would  be  a  great 
weakness.  If  it  is  an  honor  to  know  what  most  men  an? 
ignorant  of,  it  is  stupid  to  be  ignorant  of  what  every  one  knows 

What !  can  ignorance  be  the  proof  of  an  elevated  mind, 
the  seal  of  genius !  Then  let  the  ass  raise  his  ears,  and 
mount  the  shield.  I  salute  him  king  of  unbelievers.  By  no 
effort  is  it  in  the  power  of  man  to  descend  low  enough  to 
dispute  the  palm  of  ignorance  with  the  brute. 

Certainly  it  is  very  much  amiss  to  carry  the  head  so  high, 
when  the  heart  is  so  degraded,  when  one  has  so  little  self- 
respect  as  to  take  no  interest  in  the  question :  Am  I  the  work 
of  chance  or  of  a  superior  intelligence  ?  Will  the  being  which 
thinks  in  me  be  consumed  by  the  worm  of  the  sepulchre  ;  or 
freed  from  its  gross  envelope,  will  it  go  to  take  its  place 
among  immortal  beings  ?  In  fact,  on  what  does  this  strength 
of  mind  which  goes  so  far  as  to  stifle  reason,  rest?  On 
meanness  of  soul.  It  has  long  been  said;  "The  impious  will 
believe  nothing,  because  they  aspire  to  the  right  of  doing 
everything."  If  they  refuse  to  examine  dogmas,  it  is  because 
they  see  the  chapter  of  duties  at  the  end.  Leave  them  the 
secret  of  their  fortune,  permit  them  certain  degrading  amuse- 
ments and  "you  will  induce  them  to  believe  the  most  incred- 
ible things. 

What  can  be  more  absurd  than  this  conduct.  Will  there 
be  no  God,  because  man  chooses  to  doubt  his  existence  ? 

2 


14  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Will  the  eternal  prisons  destined  for  the  despisers  of  his  law 
be  less  terrible,  because  they  plunge  into  them  blindfold  ?  At 
the  word  hell,  the  indifferent  smile,  but  is  a  smile  sufficient  to 
overthrow  the  faith  of  the  human  race !  Shall  one,  "  I  do  not 
believe,"  founded  on  ignorance,  prevail  over  the  conviction  of 
thousands  of  men,  who  have  preceded  us  ?  For  as  to  the 
existence  of  future  rewards  and  punishments,  there  is,  arid 
there  never  has  been,  but  one  voice  among  men. 

The  indifferent  cannot  say ;  "  I  am  certain  that  the  future 
life  is  a  chimera."  How  could  they  have  acquired  certainty 
on  a  question  which  they  have  never  examined ;  especially 
when  the  immense  majesty  of  the  race  affirms  the  contrary, 
and  gives  very  good  reasons  for  it. 

If  they  cannot  rationally  affirm  the  falseness  of  religion,  it 
is  then  possible  that  religion  is  true,  and  hence  they  reason 
thus ;  "  It  is  possible  that  God,  the  creator  and  legislator 
exists ;  it  is  possible  that  he  has  imposed  on  man  duties  whose 
observance  may  one  day  be  recompensed  with  a  divine 
munificence,  and  whose  transgression  on  the  contrary,  will 
plunge  him  into  eternal  misery.  It  is  then  possible,  that  when 
I  leave  this  life,  my  affected  ignorance  of  the  laws  of  the 
great  master  may  deprive  me  of  incalculable  happiness,  may 
draw  down  upon  me  punishments,  of  which  the  sufferings  of 
this  life  are  only  a  feeble  image.  Yet  it  would  be  weakness 
of  mind  to  occupy  oneself  with  such  a  question."  Was  not 
Pascal  right  in  saying  that  there  were  no  terms  to  characterise 
so  extravagant  a  creature  ? 

On  whatever  side  we  examine  indifference  to  the  affairs  of 
religion  ....  but  I  remember  there  is  a  book  on  this  subject, 
and  a  book  so  well  written  that  for  ten  years  the  author  has 
striven  to  destroy  it.  I  commend  the  indifferent  to  it,  and  if 
after  having  read  it,  they  are  still  puffed  up  with  vain  glory, 
I  must  hand  them  over  to  the  physician. 


SOLUTION   OF    THE    PANTHEIST.  15 

CHAPTER    V. 

SOLUTION    OF   THE    PANTHEIST. WHAT    IS    PANTHEISM  ? 

IF  it  were  not  known  that  there  is  no  degree  of  folly  too 
great  for  pride,  when  it  attempts  to  escape  from  God,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  conceive  how  pantheism  could  find  a 
place  in  the  human  mind. 

A  Christian  philosopher  has  said  to  guilty  man :  "  Do  you 
wish  to  escape  from  God  ?  cast  yourself  into  his  arms  *" 
The  pantheist  thinks  it  best  to  throw  himself  into  the  divine 
essence.  "  I  am  God,  a  fraction  of  God,"  he  declares ;  "  how 
could  he  strike  me,  and  the  blows  not  rebound  upon  himself?" 

When  through  various  transcendent  speculations,  an  intel- 
lect has  become  sufficiently  proof  against  absurdities  to  con- 
found its  miserable  individual  existence  with  the  infinite  exist- 
tence ;  when  it  has  been  seriously  attempted  to  form  from  all 
intellectual  and  material  unities,  the  absolute  unity ;  from  all 
successive  existences,  eternity ;  from  all  imperfect,  transitory, 
corruptible  beings  the  incorruptible,  immutable,  infinite  being; 

when but  I  see  most  of  my  readers  yawning,  little 

versed,  as  it  appears,  in  the  j'antheistic  system,  although  it  is 
the  foundation  of  all  the  religious,  philosophical,  political,  lit- 
erary and  artistic  errors  of  our  age.  Let  us  endeavor  then 
to  explain  it,  in  a  few  words.  In  this  case,  to  explain  is  to 
refute. 

Until  recently,  all  philosophers  who,  without  aversion  to 
God,  were  studying  the  origin  of  the  universe,  finished  by 
rendering  homage  to  the  system,  or  rather  to  the  fact  of  the 
creation:  GOD  spoke  and  everything  began  to  be. — A  system 
so  grand,  exclaims  J.  J.  Rousseau,  so  consoling,  so  sublime, 
so  fitted  to  elevate  the  soul,  and  lay  a  foundation  for  virtue 

*  Vis  fugere  a  Deo  ?  fuge  ad  Deum.  (S.  Auguslin.) 


16  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

a  system  so  striking,  so  luminous,  so  simple ;  a  system  pre- 
senting less  that  is  incomprehensible  to  the  human  mind,  than 
other  systems  contain  that  is  absurd ! 

At  that  time,  it  is  true,  it  was  no  better  understood  than  at 
present,  how  infinite  power  had  brought  the  universe  out  of 
nothing  ;  but  this  was  a  fact  established  by  divine  testimony, 
and  confirmed  by  reason,  which  easily  demonstrated  the 
weakness  of  every  other  hypothesis.  Men  believed  then  in 
the  creation,  and  did  not  blush  at  their  belief,  supported  as  it 
was  by  these  two  eminently  philosophical  axioms  ;  1.  An  infi- 
nite intelligence  can  do  many  things,  which  a  limited  intelli- 
gence cannot  conceive;  2.  The  privilege  of  believing  nothing 
belongs  to  the  brute. 

If  reason,  which  is  not  naturally  very  craving  of  mysteries, 
persisted  in  asking  how  God  could  create  real  beings  out  of 
possible  beings,  and  how  these  beings  could  be  from  God 
and  by  God,  without  .being  one  with  God;  it  was  answered: 
"  O  Fool,  enter  into  thyself,  and  thou  wilt  find  phenomena 
analagous  to  the  creation.  Daily  thy  intellect  struck  by  the 
idea  of  an  object  purely  possible,  for  example,  by  a  dis- 
course, a  picture,  or  a  statue,  hastens  to  realise  it  outwardly 
by  language,  the  pencil,  or  the  chisel.  These  objects  which 
exist  only  through  thee,  are  yet  distinct  from  thee,  distinct 
from  the  idea  of  which  they  are  the  expression,  distinct  from 
the  mind  that  has  conceived  them,  from  the  will  that  has 
freely  produced  them.  After  that,  wilt  thou  refuse  to  believe 
that  the  Infinite  Being,  by  the  power  of  His  Word,  has  been 
able  freely  to  realise  some  of  the  beings,  conceived  by  his 
intelligence,  and  that  these  beings  are  from  him,  by  him,  in 
him,  without  being  him  ?" 

This  cosmogony  was  not  so  bad  as  is  seemed ;  but  to  the 
eye  of  pride,  which  pretends  to  accomplish  everything,  it  had 
the  capital  defect  of  being  completely  finished.  It  must  then 
proceed  upon  its  own  foundation,  and  as  the  foundation  of 


SOLUTION    OF    THE    PANTHEIST.  17 

pride  is  foil}',  the  old  and  foolish  theory  of  emanation  was 
substituted  for  the  very  rational  theory  of  the  creation.  It 
is  really  an  old  theory,  for  it  was  the  first  which  presented 
itself  to  the  human  mind  not  illuminated  by  divine  light.  In 
fact,  most  of  the  philosophers  of  antiquity,  destitute  of  the 
idea,  to  human  reason  inscrutable,  though  so  simple,  of  the 
creation,  believed  that  beings  came  forth  from  the  Supreme 
Being,  either  by  generation,  as  the  child  comes  forth  from 
the  womb  of  its  mother,  or  by  coming  to  light,  as  the  bird 
escapes  from  the  egg,  or  by  evolution  as  the  tree  springs 
from  the  surface  of  the  soil  which  conceals  its  germs. 

A  stupid  conception,  which  gave  birth  to  the  monstrous 
cosmogonies  of  Egypt,  India,  and  Greece,  and  which  think- 
ing men  beyond  the  Rhine,  reproduce  at  the  present  day 
under  the  name  of  the  science  of  the  absolute,  or  transcend- 
ental philosophy.  Heavy  as  are  the  clouds  behind  which 
Kant  and  his  disciples  love  to  intrench  themselves,  through 
their  ambitious  terminology,  we  see  the  folly  of  the  early 
days  always  revealed. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE    SAME    SUBJECT    CONTINUED. 

THE  creative  principle,  variously  named  in  the  ancient 
cosmogonies,  is  denominated  indifferently,  in  the  schools  of 
Kant,  Fichte,  Schelling,  Hegel,  Herder,  &c. ;  the  Absolute, 
the  One,  the  Great  Whole,  Idea,  Being,  the  Absolute  Me,  God. 

This  absolute,  eternal,  infinite,  imperishable,  has  the  idea 
of  himself,  but  still  an  idea  too  confused  to  permit  a  full 
conception.  Intensely  curious,  as  might  be  imagined,  to 
know  what  he  is,  and  of  what  value  he  is,  he  endeavors  to 

2* 


IS  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

elucidate  and  develope  this  idea,  that  he  may  know  precisely 
everything  which  is  contained  in  his  existence.  How  is  this 
to  be  done  ?  As  we  do  when  we  wish  to  develope  an  idea 
which  torments  us ;  we  strive  to  give  it  a  form,  by  placing  it 
on  paper  in  presence  of  an  intellect.  If  this  first  sketch  fails 
of  rendering  our  thought  we  change  it,  and  we  continue  to 
erase  and  write  until  finding  the  perfect  expression  of  an 
idea  we  can  say :  "  I  have  succeeded ;  I  have  fathomed  my 
thought." 

In  the  same  way,  God  or  the  Absolute,  moved  by  the 
desire  of  knowing  himself,  is  eternally  occupied  with  pro- 
jecting his  thought,  by  making  himself  objective  to  himself, 
or — to  speak  transcendentally — by  placing  himself  opposite 
to  himself,  as  not  himself.  As  he  is  spirit  and  matter — at 
least  potentially — his  intellectual  being  is  displayed  in  a  mul- 
titude of  intelligences,  his  material  unity  is  broken  up  into  an 
infinity  of  sensible  substances. 

What  is  the  universe  according  to  this  system  ?  It  is  a 
divine  evolution,  an  act  by  which  the  Absolute  unfolds  him- 
self, displays  himself  to  the  eye  of  his  intelligence  that  he 
may  describe  himself  to  himself. 

Men  are  not,  as  they  have  hitherto  had  the  simplicity  to 
believe,  individuals,  really  enjoying  their  personal  existence. 
Their  spirit  is  only  one  of  the  manifold  forms  of  the  infinite 
spirit ;  their  body  like  all  bodies  only  a  mere  modification  of 
universal  matter.  In  a  word,  the  human  race,  animals,  vege- 
tables, minerals,  all  various  transformations  of  the  divine 
essence  are  only  forms  in  which  God  seeks  to  contemplate 
himself,  and  to  study  his  own  nature. 

Unfortunately  these  formulas,  being  the  fruit  of  a  first 
essay,  are  incomplete,  and  fail  of  rendering  worthily  the 
divine  thought.  Hence,  we  see  in  the  eternal  author,  a  con- 
tinual effort  to  modify  and  perfect  his  theme.  The  incessant 
revolutions  of  the  moral  and  physical  world  have  no  other 


SOLUTION    OF    THE    PANTHEIST.  19 

aim  than  to  establish  the  supremacy  of  the  idea,  by  disengag- 
ing it  from  its  ancient  forms,  and  carrying  it  out  to  its  fullest 
manifestation.  If  these  operations  are  tedious  and  painful, 
if  sometimes  God,  in  order  to  erase  more  quickly  a  page 
which  displeases  him,  casts  on  it  some  drops  of  human  blood, 
let  us  not  weep  like  men  of  weaker  minds. 

All  violent  destruction  is  progress.  When  God  erases  so 
suddenly  an  ill-sounding  phrase,  it  is  to  write  a  better  one. 
Who  knows  if  this  may  not  be  the  last ;  if  the  divine  idea, 
having  completely  given  form  to  itself,  the  God — Universe 
may  not  remain  eternally  fixed  in  ecstatic  self-contemplation? 

It  is  true  that,  if  before  this  happy  epoch,  the  guillotine, 
the  bullet,  or  inability  to  live  longer  annihilates  our  present 
existence,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  how  we  can  participate  in  the 
felicity  of  the  Great  Whole :  but  away  with  selfishness ! 
Humanity  will  then  subsist  in  our  descendants,  who,  thanks 
to  the  perfection  of  their  intellect,  which  reflects  the  idea  of 
the  Absolute,  will  be  preserved  with  the  same  care  that  we 
give  to  the  learned  pages  on  which  our  thoughts  are  worthily 
recorded  !* 

This  is  the  fundamental  theory  of  the  modern  pantheist,  or 
of  the  transcendental  and  progressive  philosophy,  under  what- 
ever form  or  name  it  presents.  I  would  call  upon  all  those 
who  like  myself,  have  had  the  patience  and  courage  to  pursue 
this  hideous  phantom  through  the  obscurity  in  which  it  con- 
ceals itself,  to  decide  if  I  have  been  faithful  in  the  sketch  1 
have  made  of  it. 

*  Yet  this  is  not  entirely  certain.  It  is  possible  that  God,  after 
having  perused  his  formula  enough  to  impress  on  his  memory  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  existence,  may  use  it  as  authors  often  use  their 
manuscripts  as  soon  as  they  have  obtained  the  honor  of  being  printed. 
And  is  not  this  the  fatal  termination  which  the  transcendental  philo- 
sophy seems  to  prophesy,  when  it  announces  in  oracular  style  that 
"  the  absolute  after  having  displayed  himself  in  manifold  forms  retires 
towards  Unity,  and  tends  to  re-establish  himself  in  Unity?" 


20  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

If  I  am  now  asked  how  this  horrible  folly  has  found  in 
Germany  and  elsewhere  so  many  partisans,  in  most  of  whom 
we  must  acknowledge  a  rare  degree  of  talent  and  information, 
I  shall  give  two  reasons. 

The  first  is  entirely  a  Christian  reason.  When  a  man, 
reared  in  the  bosom  of  evangelical  light,  dares  in  his  pride 
to  reject  the  simple  and  sublime  philosophy  that  Jesus  Christ 
came  to  teach  us,  at  the  price  of  his  blood ;  the  spirit  of  God 
departs  from  his  guilty  heart,  and  the  demon  of  brutality  is 
summoned  to  rule  there,  by  virtue  of  this  divine  law :  Whoever 
exalts  himself  shall  be  humbled. 

These  are  the  archangels  of  the  Catholic  hosts,  whose 
fall  still  makes  our  hearts  bleed.  In  the  filthy  mire  where 
they  grovel  after  they  have  lost  the  wings  of  faith,  they  ex- 
haust our  pity,  as  they  have  before  exhausted  our  admiration. 
On  their  pages  which  we  should  think  written  by  the  light 
of  the  infernal  gulfs,  what  do  we  see  ?  A  profusion  of  ab- 
surdities, which  hold  the  reader  perpetually  suspended  between 
indignation  and  contempt. 

The  second  reason  for  the  success  of  the  pantheistic  doc- 
trines, demands  an  entire  chapter. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

MORAL    SIDE    OF    PANTHEISM. 

EXCEPT  in  the  case  of  organic  disease,  man  does  not  play 
the  fool  unless  he  is  freed  from  responsibility  with  regard  to 
the  consequences  of  it.  We  naturally  love  truth  ;  the  heart 
must  be  fully  recompensed  for  the  violence  done  to  reason, 
before  it  can  yield  itself  captive  to  error. 

If  a  system  is  fruitful  of  immoral  consequences,  if  it  gives 


MORAL    SIDE    OF    PANTHEISM. 


the  reins  to  all  the  passions,  its  fortune  is  made,  even  if  it 
contains  in  its  principles  an  infinity  of  absurdities.  Those 
whose  intellect  is  on  a  level  with  their  stomach,  will  adopt 
results  without  troubling  themselves  very  much  about  the 
premises.  "This  system  -is  convenient,"  they  will  say, 
"  it  is  of  little  importance  to  us  whether  it  be  true  or  not." 
Those  who  pride  themselves  on  reasoning  upon  morals,  will 
say,  "  This  theory  charms  the  feelings,  why  does  it  not  agree 
with  reason  ? "  and  the  union  will  take  place  very  quickly ; 
for  reason  closes  her  eyes  when  she  lends  an  ear  to  tho 
appeals  of  feeling. 

Now  nothing  is  so  flexible  as  the  morality  of  pantheism. 
To  make  man  a  portion  of  the  great  whole,  without  person- 
ality, is  to  free  him  from  the  responsibility  of  his  actions,  to 
deify  all  the  extravagancies  that  flit  across  his  mind,  and  all 
the  desires  of  his  heart,  however  monstrous  they  may  be. 

What  the  ignorant  man  calls  a  vice,  an  evil,  a  crime,  an 
execrable  offence,  is,  in  this  system  always  a  good ;  for  in 
one  way  or  another  it  turns  to  the  profit  of  the  whole. 
Thus  a  transcendental  philosopher  would  be  very  much 
embarrassed  if  he  were  asked  whether  Vincent  de  Paul  or 
Robespierre  deserved  the  most  from  the  human  race. 

The  Absolute  needing  action  and  movement  in  order  to 
evolve  himself,  it  is  for  us  to  second  him  in  the  best  way 
we  can,  and  labor  with  energy  to  destroy  what  is,  and  to 
produce  what  is  not. 

Are  you  born  with  a  mind  inclined  to  vast  and  profound 
meditations.  This  is  the  religious,  philosophical,  or  political 
idea  seeking  in  you  new  manifestations.  Set  at  naught  the 
superannuated  theories,  which  hitherto  have  ruled  the  minds 
of  men.  Let  us  have  the  unknown,  and  let  meaner  souls 
cry  absurd. 

Are  you  gifted  with  a  genius  for  poetry  and  the  fine  arts  ? 
This  is  the  idea  that  demands  of  you  an  unknown  form. 


22  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Even  if  this  form  violates  all  the  rules  of  beauty,  and  out- 
rages modesty  beyond  measure,  it  is  of  little  importance :  do 
not  refuse  the  divine  inspiration. 

Are  you  in  a  situation  from  your  social  position  to  impress 
a  great  movement  on  the  political  machine  ?  Do  not  hesitate 
to  do  so,  even  should  the  machine  break  and  bury  twenty 
millions  of  men  under  its  ruins.  If  its  victims  curse  you  ; 
humanity,  which  has  advanced  a  step,  will  bless  you. 

You  too,  whose  activity  is  limited  to  the  narrow  circle  of 
the  family ;  the  life  of  the  Great  Whole  seeks  also  its  mani- 
festation in  you,  through  the  insatiable  appetites  of  the  heart. 
Devote  yourself  to  satisfying  them  by  the  energetic  devel- 
opment of  your  faculties.  Answer  boldly  like  the  crusaders 
to  him  who  would  array  against  you  the  rules  of  morality. 
"It  is  the  will  of  God!"  It  is  true  that  the  penal  code  still 
dares  to  put  limits  to  your  independence,  but  unite  your 
voices  to  those  which  arise  on  every  side  against  this  barba- 
rous act,  and  the  sword  will  fall  from  the  hand  of  justice,  as 
soon  as  public  opinion  recognizes  in  crime  only  the  tragic 
explosion  of  the  idea. 

I  defy  all  the  worthless  libertines  in  the  universe,  united  in 
a  general  company,  under  the  direction  of  Satan  in  person, 
to  form  a  code  of  more  complete  licentiousness. 

Many  honest  progressive  persons,  I  know,  do  not  wish  for 
these  consequences.  They  are  charmed,  in  the  new  philo- 
sophy, by  something  grand  and  colossal  which  it  presents 
at  first  to  the  dazzled  mind,  by  the  fanciful  unity  which  it 
promises  to  science,  and  above  all  by  the  facility  it  gives  to 
praise  everything,  and  approve  everything  in  matters  of  reli- 
gion, without  imposing  the  obligation  of  practising  anything. 
In  fact  the  different  religions  which  have  divided,  and  still 
divide  the  world,  being  formulas,  more  or  less  successful,  of 
the  idea,  there  is  none  that  has  not  contributed  to  progress, 
and  which  does  not  claim  a  share  of  our  homage ;  but  all 


MORAL    SIDE    OF    PANTHEISM.  23 

of  them  maintaining  their  ascendency  over  the  idea,  none 
has  a  right  to  impose  upon  us  its  dogmas,  or  subject  us  to 
its  laws  and  precepts. 

Catholicism,  no  doubt,  has  more  nearly  attained  its  end ; 
hence  its  long  and  wonderfully  prolific  existence.  Its  wor- 
ship and  its  monuments  still  breathe  forth  something  of  the 
infinite  ;  yet  its  dogmatic  formulas,  and  moral  laws  are  far 
from  the  idea.  What  soul  is  so  little  elevated,  that  it  does 
not  feel  the  need  of  a  religion,  more  ideal,  more  free  from 
terrestrial  clogs  and  more  transcendental !  The  ministers  of 
the  old  worship  may  still  preach  to  us  the  love  of  God  and 
man ;  respect  for  the  life  and  even  the  property  of  our  bre- 
thren ;  this  is  very  well ;  but  who  in  our  day  would  submit 
himself  to  the  law  of  confession,  fasting  and  abstinence ! 
Who  believes  himself  guilty  if  he  has  not  restrained  his  eye 
or  his  heart  in  the  presence  of  beauty !  In  short  who  would 
be  willing,  in  the  nineteenth  century  to  be  a  Christian  after 
the  manner  of  the  tenth ! 

These,  fashionable  friends  of  progress,  are  the  decent 
limits  you  intend  to  prescribe  to  the  practical  consequences 
of  your  doctrines.  But  if  they  are  sufficient  for  you,  for 
you  who  can  satisfy  the  appetites  of  the  heart  without  com- 
mitting robbery  or  assassination,  they  are  not  sufficient  for 
that  immense  multitude  who  can  only  expect  in  return  for 
their  fidelity  to  social  duties,  a  morsel  of  bread  steeped  in 
sweat.  The  subtle  and  inflexible  logic  of  the  passions  will 
certainly  reveal  to  them  what  you  vainly  attempt  to  conceal 
in  your  principles ;  that  moral  constraint  is  folly  ;  criminality 
a  ridiculous  fiction,  and  public  prosecution  an  atrocity ;  that 
our  sole  duty  is  to  use  life  generously,  and  that  our  liberty 
has  no  other  rule  than  the  length  and  power  of  our  arms. 

Make  this  beautiful  morality  popular,  and  your  Absolute 
will  soon  begin  to  inscribe  himself  so  illegibly ;  will  blot  his 
characters  so  often  with  our  blood,  that  in  less  than  a  cen- 


24  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

tury  the  nine  millions  of  fractions  of  his  divine  being,  which 
are  disporting  themselves  now  on  the  surface  of  the  globe, 
will  be  re-established  in  unity — the  unity  of  death. 

The  pantheistic  system  then  is  as  execrable  in  practice  as 
it  is  stupid  in  theory.  Consequently  the  solution  it  gives  to 
this  question :  "  From  whence  comes  man  ? "  is  unworthy 
of  a  man,  unless  reason  and  moral  sense  are  no  longer 
integral  parts  of  man  in  the  nineteenth  century. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

SOLUTION    OF    ATHEISM. 

IF  the  atheist  is  right,  the  human  race  is  wrong,  and 
nothing  but  incorrigible  folly  is  to  be  seen  in  the  infinite 
number  of  nations  who  have  covered  and  still  cover  our 
planet ;  for  all  of  them  from  the  most  civilized  to  the  most 
savage,  have  recognized  a  God. 

To  escape  so  overwhelming  an  argument,  what  has 
atheism  not  done  ?  After  having  in  vain  ransacked  both 
hemispheres  to  discover  a  nation  without  a  God;  it  con- 
cluded to  organize  one.  The  commencement  of  this  extra- 
vagance belonged  by  right  to  the  country  of  great  disco- 
veries. But  if  it  needed  an  Englishman  to  conceive  such  a 
project,  for  the  execution  of  it  the  New  World  was  necessary. 

Robert  Owen  then  assembled,  nearly  twenty  years  since, 
seven  or  eight  hundred  individuals  male  and  female,  strong 
enough  in  atheism  to  believe  that  they  would  not  transmit  to 
their  children  the  idea  of  God. 

He  led  them  to  the  United  States,  chose  for  them  an 
extensive  domain,  traced  the  plan  of  a  little  city  which  he 
called  New-Harmony ;  then  he  made  them  promise  to  remain 


SOLUTION    OF    ATHEISM.  25 

faithful  to  the  laws  of  their  mother  nature  alone,  expecting 
them  however  to  cultivate  the  arts  of  industry  and  to  pre- 
serve the  habit  of  walking  on  two  feet,  that  no  one  might 
doubt  their  human  extraction.  He  recommended  to  them 
particularly  to  abolish  the  mine  and  thine,  to  banish  forever 
from  their  lips  and  hearts  the  name  of  a  superior  being ;  by 
which  means  he  promised  them,  on  the  faith  of  an  atheist, 
that  they  and  their  little  ones  should  rise  to  such  a  degree  of 
felicity,  that  the  astonished  universe  would  finally  renounce 
religion,  marriage,  and  private  property,  the  most  horrible 
trinity  of  scourges  that  can  afflict  mankind.* 

The  event  failed  of  justifying  these  fair  hopes.  Whether 
contagious  disease,  or  some  other  scourge  not  comprehended 
in  the  horrible  trinity,  ruined  the  band  at  New-Harmony — 
we  no  longer  hear  of  it,  and  the  man  who  assembled  them, 
at  so  great  a  cost,  returned  to  England. 

This  experience  was  not  needed  however  to  prove  that 
atheists  multiply  by  innoculation,  and  not  by  generation.  The 
operation  is  very  simple :  it  is  only  to  blacken  the  con- 
science to  such  an  extent,  that  it  cannot  behold  itself  without 
exclaiming  :  "  Wo  is  me,  if  there  be  a  God  !" 

The  receipt  it  is  true  never  radically  takes  effect.  There 
are  many  circumstances  in  life,  in  which  an  atheist  of  this 
kind  is  carried  away  by  the  universal  prejudice. — Vanini,  at 
the  sight  of  the  funeral  pile  exclaimed;  "Oh  God!"  Vol- 
ney,  in  peril  of  his  life,  on  the  coasts  of  America,  seized  a 
rosary,  and  proved,  while  the  storm  lasted,  that  he  knew  his 
Pater  and  his  Ave. — Cabanis,  who  swore  by  his  head,  in  the 
presence  of  the  whole  academy,  that  there  was  no  God,  and 
threatened  to  draw  the  sword  against  any  one  who  should 

*  These  are  the  words  of  Robert  Owen,  in  his  Declaration  of  Men- 
tal Independence,  a  discourse  delivered  at  New  Harmony,  July  4th, 
1S2G,  the  fifty-first  year  of  American  Independence.  This  singular 
document  is  found  entire  in  le  Memorial  Catholique,  vol.  7th,  page  149. 

3 


26  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


affirm  the  contrary,  Cabanis  yet  avowed  that  atheism  is  con- 
trary to  direct,  inevitable,  daily  impressions,  to  the  constant 
and  universal  utterance  of  all  nature.* 

Let  it  be  acknowledged  to  the  credit  of  the  brutes,  that 
natural,  calm,  imperturbable  atheism  is  only  found  among 
them.  The  man  who  adopts  their  mode  of  living,  may  ape 
their  irreligion,  so  long  as  he  leads  a  joyous  life : 

Mais,  au  moindre  revers  funeste, 
Le  masque  tombe,  1'homme  reste, 
Et  la  brute  s'evancuit.f 

The  learned  men  of  the  last  century  gave  an  undue  import 
ance  to  atheism  by  treating  it  as  a  serious  malady.  The  num. 
ber  of  atheists  was  increased,  by  the  works  destined  to  refute 
them ;  to  reduce  these  minds  puffed  up  by  pride,  powerful 
purgatives  should  have  been  employed,  such  as  large  doses  of 
contempt  and  ridicule,  and  not  the  cold  preparations  of  science. 

All  the  blows  inflicted  by  the  Herculean  club  of  the  Sor- 
bonne  are  not  so  effectual  as  the  box  on  the  ear  of  a  cele- 
brated unbeliever,  given  by  the  hand  of  beauty.  After  having 
in  vain  preached  to  a  circle  of  ladies ;  he  attempted  to 
revenge  himself,  by  saying,  "  Pardon  my  error,  ladies,  I  did 
not  imagine  that  in  a  house  where  wit  vies  with  grace,  I 
alone  should  have  the  honor  of  not  believing  in  God." 
"  You  are  not  alone,  Sir,"  answered  the  mistress  of  the  man- 
sion ;  "  my  horses,  my  dog,  my  cat  share  this  honor  with 
you:  only  these  poor  brutes  have  the  good  sense  not  to 
boast  of  it." 

*  See  his  Letter  on  First  Causes,  published  by  M.  Berard.  What 
do  these  words  signify,  if  not  that  the  sincere  atheist  avoids  what  is 
inevitable,  that  he  never  experiences  what  other  men  daily  experi- 
ence, and  that,  by  his  insensibility  to  the  universal  and  constant  cry 
of  all  nature,  he  is  the  most  unnatural  of  all  beings  ? 

•f  "  But  at  the  least  reverse,  the  mask  falls, 
Man  remains,  and  the  brute  disappears." 


ABSURDITY    OF    ATHEISM.  27 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ONE    PROOF    AMONG    A    THOUSAND,    THAT    THE    ATHEIST    IS 
THE    MOST    IMPUDENT    OF    LIARS. 

IF  I  were  .asked  the  question  :  "  Are  there  real  atheists?" 
I  should  answer  boldly,  among  animals,  certainly ;  but  not 
among  men.  There  have  indeed  been,  and  there  still  are 
persons  impudent  enough  to  say  and  even  to  write  that  man 
is  the  work  of  chance ;  a  spontaneous  production  of  nature, 
&c. ;  that  there  are  any  stupid  enough  to  believe  it  is 
impossible. 

What  would  be  thought  of  one  who  in  presence  of  the 
Apollo  Belvidere,  or  any  other  master-piece  of  art,  should 
seriously  say ;  "  This  is  a  singular  accident  of  nature ! 
What  a  succession  of  fortunate  accidents  must  have  been 
required  to  impress  on  this  marble  a  form  so  divinely 
human!"  You  would  refuse  to  believe  such  extraordinary 
folly  possible  ;  but  he  who  attributes  our  existence  to  chance 
is  a  thousand  times  more  foolish. 

There  is  incomparably  more  intelligence  in  the  formation, 
I  do  not  say  of  our  body,  but  of  a  single  hair  of  our  head, 
than  in  the  Apollo,  and  the  other  statues  of  the  Belvidere. 
WTe  have  a  hundred  artists  in  Europe  capable  of  transform- 
ing, more  or  less  successfully,  a  block  of  marble  into  an 
Apollo  ;  but  who  can  make  a  hair !  Nature  furnishes  us  in 
abundance  with  the  nine  substances  which  analysis  has  dis- 
covered in  this  delicate  thread ;  it  only  remains  to  combine 
them,  but  that  surpasses  all  human  capacity.  What  does 
this  prove  ?  that  we  have  as  many  demonstrations  of  an 
intelligence  superior  to  man,  as  there  are  hairs  upon  our 
heads. 

Where  is  there  a  brain  diseased  enough  to  imagine  that  a 


28  THE    SOLUTION    OP    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

piece  of  cloth  is  the  work  of  blind  force  ?  that,  for  example, 
a  blast  of  wind  has  blown  the  bark  from  the  cotton  plant,  or 
some  tufts  of  wool  from  the  sheep's  back ;  that  another  blast 
has  converted  these  fragments  into  thread ;  that  a  third  has 
woven  them  with  so  much  skill  and  method,  &c. !  Now  this 
man  would  be  much  less  absurd,  than  the  atheist,  who  sees 
only  chance  in  the  tissue  of  our  skin  ;  wonderful  covering, 
closely  woven  enough  to  retain  the  blood,  open  enough  to 
give  passage  to  the  secretions,  soft  enough  to  gratify  the 
touch,  strong  enough  to  resist  perpetual  friction,  sufficiently 
transparent  to  display  the  most  beautiful  colors,  and  suffi- 
ciently opaque  to  conceal  from  the  eye  the  red  flesh  that  it 
covers. 

Let  a  skilful  scalpel  raise  this  envelope,  and  unfold  to  our 
astonished  eye  the  wonders  of  the  human  organization.  At 
the  display  of  this  divine  miniature,  where  the  innumerable 
combinations  which  are  so  conspicuous  in  the  structure  of 
the  universe  are  reproduced  in  indescribable  perfection,  who 
is  so  mad  as  to  dare  to  utter  the  word  chance ! 

The  prodigious  skill  that  is  perceptible  in  it  even  to  the 
naked  eye,  caused  an  ancient  anatomist  to  say ;  "  Give  me 
a  dead  dog  and  I  will  make  him  bark  against  Epicurus." 
What  would  he  have  said,  if  the  microscope  had  enabled 
him  to  see  in  one  fibre  alone,  as  much  wisdom  as  in  the 
mechanism  of  the  whole!"  "Give  me  the  tongue  of  an 
atheist,"  said  a  modern  religious  anatomist,  "  and  I  will  find 
in  it  a  thousand  undeniable  proofs  that  it  is  a  bold  liar." 

From  the  state  of  minute  dust,  in  which  analysis  shows  us 
the  elements  of  our  body,  to  the  perfect  organization,  where 
the  phenomena  of  life  are  displayed,  what  an  incalculable 
succession  of  profound  combinations! 

How  many  combinations  in  order  to  raise  inorganic  parti- 
cles of  dust,  mostly  dissimilar,  to  the  fibrous  state ! — How 
many  combinations  to  form  from  fibres  the  fifteen  or  sixteen 


ABSURDITY    OF    ATHEISM.  29 

different  tissues  recognized  by  anatomists! — How  many 
combinations  to  form  from  these  tissues  myriads  of  organs, 
each  having  its  own  action  !  *  How  many  combinations  to 
distribute  the  organs  for  the  formation  of  the  varied  mechan- 
ism necessary  to  the  vital  functions  ! — How  many  combina- 
tions to  compose  from  such  a  variety  of  organs,  a  single  one 
endowed  with  life ! 

To  the  mad  man  who  dares  to  attribute  this  master-piece 
of  intelligence  to  the  blind  forces  of  nature,  I  would  say ; 
"  Chemistry  reveals  to  us  the  different  elements  of  the  human 
body ;  collect  them  in  as  large  a  quantity  as  you  please,  and 
in  the  proportions  given  by  analysis;  submit  them  to  the 
successive  or  simultaneous  action  of  all  the  natural  agents ; 
and  we  shall  see  if  blind  nature,  aided  by  the  lights  of  human 
science,  will  succeed  in  fusing,  crystallising,  or  forcing  to 
germination,  I  will  not  say  a  human  body,  I  will  not  say  the 
least  complicated  of  the  tissues  which  enter  into  its  formation 
(the  osseous  tissue),  I  will  not  say  even  only  a  single  one  of 
the  two  hundred  and  forty-two  pieces  of  which  a  skeleton  is 
composed,  but  only  one  ounce  of  osseous  substance. 

The  chemical  composition  alone  of  osseous  matter,  requir- 
ing at  least  eighty-seven  combinations  or  proportions,  it 
would  be  necessary  that  the  agent  charged  with  the  under- 
taking should  conform  to  these  combinations,  and  avoid  the 
innumerable  errors  which  might  derange  them  ;  which  would 
really  be  a  miracle  in  a  blind  man. 

The  osseous  substance  being  given,  it  must  necessarily 
receive  the  form  of  a  human  bone  ;  for  instance,  of  a  verte- 
bra. Now,  in  the  construction  of  a  vertebra  there  are  at 

*  Yes,  myriads  of  organs !  Follow,  lens  in  hand,  the  innumerable 
ramifications  of  the  nervous,  arterial,  and  venous  systems,  particularly 
in  the  mechanism  of  the  brain :  consider  the  blood  vessels  of  so  aston- 
ishing a  delicacy,  that  united  they  present  to  the  eye  only  an  inorganic 
mass,  and  then  tell  me  if  I  exaggerate. 

4* 


30  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

least  three  hundred  and  fifteen  things  necessary,  to  which 
your  blind  man  must  pay  attention.*  The  vertebra  formed, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  find  its  twenty-three  sisters ;  and  they 
must  not  be  moulded  upon  the  first,  for  nearly  all  differ ;  and 
this  makes  new  combinations  necessary  for  each  vertebra. 

The  vertebral  column  being  established,  it  will  be  required 
to  adapt  to  it  the  two  hundred  and  eighteen  bones,  which  are 
yet  wanting  to  form  a  complete  skeleton.  I  have  been 
moderate  enough  in  the  calculation  of  the  combinations  which 
one  single  piece  of  the  osseous  system  contains,  to  be  per- 
mitted to  affirm  that  the  composition  and  configuration  of 
each  of  the  other  two  hundred  and  forty-one,  demand  as 
many ;  which  supposes  in  the  formation  of  the  skeleton, 
ninety-seven  thousand,  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  combina- 
tions. Let  it  be  observed  that  among  the  countless  millions 
of  possible  combinations,  whether  in  the  two  hundred  and 
forty-two  bones,  whether  among  the  different  elements  of 
which  each  is  composed,  there  is  but  one  that  is  adapted  to 
the  human  organization  ;  there  are  then  a  million  of  chances 
to  one  that  your  blind  man  will  miss  it.  Let  us  suppose  that 
he  finds  it,  after  an  infinite  number  of  unsuccessful  experi- 
ments, which  will  have  covered  the  globe  with  the  fragments 
of  imperfect  skeletons.  We  shall  have  a  skeleton  ;  but  what 
prodigious  labor  remains,  in  order  to  give  to  this  hideous  car- 
case, externally,  the  exquisite  harmony  of  the  human  form ; 
internally,  the  infinite  variety  of  organs  necessary  to  perform 
the  functions  of  life  !  Is  not  this  enough  ? 

What  is  the  human  body  ?  It  is  an  immeasurable  har- 
mony ;  it  is  a  perfect  unity,  resulting  from  infinite  variety  ;  it 
is,  then,  the  consummate  work  of  an  unbounded  intelligence ; 
it  is  the  infinite  protest  against  chance. 

•  Galen  taught  that  "  among  the  two  hundred  bones  which  form 
the  human  body,  there  is  none  which  has  not  more  than  forty  uses." 


ABSURDITY    OF    ATHEISM.  31 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    SAME    SUBJECT    CONTINUED. 

IF  a  lifeless  body  is  sufficient  to  confound  an  atheist,  what 
may  not  be  done  with  a  living  one  ? 

What  is  life  ?  The  greatest  philosophers  answer  con- 
fusedly, and  are  incompetent  to  meet  this  question.  Life 
considered  in  its  second  causes  and  its  effects,  consists  of  in- 
numerable simultaneous  actions,  all  conspiring  towards  the 
support  of  our  organization. 

What  is  the  secret  principle  that  puts  in  play  these  innu- 
merable wheels,  and  orders  so  many  unequal  motions,  for  the 
production  of  a  singular  phenomenon?  The  soul?  If  it  is 
this  that  works  such  \vonders,  let  her  explain  them. 

Let  her  teach  us,  for  example,  how  she  transforms  food  into 
chyle,  chyle  into  blood  ;  how  she  forces  the  blood  to  the  ex- 
tremities through  the  arteries,  and  brings  it  back  to  the  heart 
through  the  veins ;  she  who,  before  the  experiments  of  Har- 
vey, obstinately  denied  the  circulation  of  this  fluid.  All  this 
process  is  going  on  with  her,  without  her,  and  even  in  spite 
of  her. 

As  to  the  movements  which  her  will  commands  ;  does  the 
soul  intervene  in  them  except  as  a  blind  instrument,  which 
knows  not  what  it  does  ?  Does  she  really  know  what  springs 
must  be  touched,  in  order  to  open  the  eye  or  shut  it,  to  raise 
the  arm,  protrude  the  foot,  utter  a  cry,  or  articulate  a  word  ? 

Who  does  not  see  that  life  is  a  divine  phenomenon.  It  is 
not  we  who  live,  it  is  God  who  lives  in  us.*  To  the  reflect- 
ing mind,  every  pulsation  of  an  artery  is  an  irrefragable  proof 

*  Cum  ipse  (Dcus)  det  omnibus  vitam,  inspirationem,  et  omnia. 
.  .  In  ipso  enim  vivimus,  et  movcmur  et  sumus.    (Act.  xvii.  25,  28.) 


32  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

of  a  being  intelligent  enough  to  comprehend  the  immense 
mechanism  of  life,  and  powerful  enough  to  keep  it  in  action. 

We  have  considered  man  alone,  and  only  the  material 
nature  in  man.  The  prodigies  of  wisdom  and  of  power  that 
we  discover  in  him,  zoology  could  show  us  in  its  countless 
myriads  of  living  beings  which  animate  the  globe,  from  the 
enormous  elephant,  to  the  caterpillar  that  gnaws  the  wood  of 
the  willow ;  and  from  this  caterpillar,  in  which  Lyonnet  has 
counted  four  thousand  divine  intentions,*  to  the  infusory 
animalcule  whose  existence,  organization,  habits  and  instincts, 
have  been  revealed  to  us  by  the  microscope  of  Spallanzani. 
We  should  find  these  prodigies  in  the  innumerable  family  of 
vegetables,  from  the  giant  cedar  to  the  mould  of  the  cheese 
which  appears  upon  our  tables. 

What  a  chain  of  harmonies  bind  the  animals  to  each 
other  ;  animals  to  vegetables ;  vegetables  to  minerals  !  What 
tender  care  for  the  preservation  of  the  weaker  species,  through 
the  duration  of  ages,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  causes  of  de- 
struction!  Every  day  witnesses  the  ruin  of  the  colossal 
structures  of  Egypt ;  but  the  grasses  which  carpet  the  banks 
of  the  Nile  are  to-day  what  they  were  in  the  time  of  the 
Pharaohs  ;  and  the  same  insects  which  tormented  the  builders 
of  the  pyramids  are  still  buzzing  around  those  monuments. 

After  this  will  it  be  necessary  to  call  to  our  aid  the  supe- 
rior worlds,  to  assail  the  atheist  with  what  scripture  calls  the 
hosts  of  heaven  ?  An  immense  army,  whose  wonderful  evo- 
lutions through  the  plains  of  space,  whose  fires  so  steady  and 
so  resplendent,  publish  night  and  day  the  genius  and  power 
of  the  Supreme  Ruler. 

*  See  his  Anatomical  Treatise  on  this  insect.  The  conchology  of 
fossils  offers  us  wonders  still  more  astonishing  in  the  twenty-six  thous- 
and little  bones  of  the  zoephytes  moniliform,  in  the  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  osseous  pieces,  and  the  three  hundred  librous  vessels  serving 
as  muscles  to  the  coral  briareus.  V.  Jehan.  JVouoeau  Traiti  des 
Sciences  Geologiques,  Etude  5e,  p.  125. 


CHRISTIAN    SOLUTION.  33 

Shall  we  raise  statues  to  Kepler,  Copernicus,  and  Newton, 
and  dignify  with  the  epithet  of  sublime  geniuses,  these  wise 
men  who  have  detected  some  secret  of  the  celestial  motions ; 
and  can  the  cause  of  a  system  so  complicated  be  only  a 
blind  force  ? 

In  short,  can  that  human  intelligence  which  alone  here  be- 
low thinks,  reflects,  and  submits  to  calculation  the  laws  of 
nature,  and  rises  above  the  senses  to  transport  itself  into  the 
past,  and  plunge  into  the  future ;  can  this  be  the  work  of 
chance  ?  Is  it  to  blind  and  inert  matter  that  it  owes  its  in- 
telligence, its  activity  ?  Is  it  fatal  necessity  that  has  endowed 
it  with  liberty  ? 

;'  That  which  does  not  think,  could  it  have  made  thought  ?" 


CHAPTER    XI. 

CHRISTIAN    SOLUTION. 

IT  is  then  certainly  true,  as  the  Christian  affirms  it  to  be, 
that  there  is  an  intelligence  governing  man  and  the  universe.* 
But  is  it  creative  ?  Let  us  see.  In  the  first  place,  God  is  so 
necessary  to  arrange  matter,  that  it  is  very  natural  to  suppose 
that  he  created  it,  rather  than  to  affirm  that  he  has  built  on 
the  foundation  of  another,  and  with  materials  that  did  not 

*  And  an  intelligence  distinct  from  human  intelligence ;  for  the 
pantheist  who  recognizes  no  other  intelligence  than  that  which  is 
broken  up  and  divided  among  men,  is  quite  as  inconsistent  as  the 
atheist,  and  more  supremely  ridiculous.  He  who  tells  us  that  the 
world  exists  and  moves  on  by  its  own  power,  shocks  indeed  the  rea- 
son ;  but  he  who  says  to  us,  "  It  is  human  intelligence  and  power 
which  has  produced  and  governed  the  universe,"  so  violently  outrages 
human  consciousness,  that  he  awakens  derision  rather  than  anger  Is 


84  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

belong  to  him  ;  which  would  truly  be  a  very  delicate  affair. 
When  in  our  bodies  or  in  the  universe,  the  workmanship  is 
superior  to  the  material ;  to  allow  the  one,  and  refuse  the 
other,  is  folly  and  meanness. 

In  short,  if  God  has  not  created  matter,  it  is  eternal  and 
necessary  ;  and  hence,  whoever  is  not  a  total  stranger  to  the 
first  principles  of  metaphysics,  finds  himself  exposed  to  in- 
evitable absurdities. 

I.  If  matter  is  necessary,  its  fundamental  principle  implies 
the    idea    of  existence.      It   would   then    be    impossible    to 
imagine  it  as  not  existing,  either  in  its  totality,  or  in  the  least 
of  its   parts.     This   proposition — the  miles  that  devour  the 
cheese  could  not  exist,  would  shock  good  sense  as  much  as 
this — the  circle  might  be  square. 

II.  If  matter  necessarily  existed,  its  modifications,  without 
which  we  cannot  conceive  of  it,  would  be  as  necessary  and 
as  immutable  as  its  essence,  since  they  would  exist  in  virtue 
of  the  same  principle.     Hence  this  process  of  life  and  death, 
which  is  constantly  changing  the  physiognomy  of  the  world, 
would  be  a  shocking  contradiction.* 

it  possible  that  the  human  mind  has  established,  and  still  preserves  in 
operation  the  innumerable  laws  of  the  universe,  when,  after  six  thous- 
and years  of  controversy,  observation  and  reasoning,  it  has  not  suc- 
ceeded in  arriving  at  the  comprehension  of  one  of  them !  Does  this 
human  power  give  life  and  motion  to  everything  that  breathes,  and 
direct  the  superior  worlds  in  their  immense  orbits,  when  it  cannot  add 
a  hair  to  our  head,  or  a  minute  to  our  life.  This  is  the  lowest  degree 
of  human  folly,  and  I  imagine  that  ignorance  borne  on  by  pride  never 
surpassed  it  If  the  number  of  members  of  the  order  is  so  great,  it  is 
because  the  statutes  of  the  order  are  not  known.  Some  skilful  pen 
should  reveal  them;  the  accusation  of  Spinosism,  Kantism,  or  Salva- 
dorism,  would  then  become  so  disgraceful,  that  the  most  phlegmatic 
man  would  %vish  to  wash  it  out  with  his  blood. 

*  Whoever  forms  to  himself  a  just  idea  of  the  necessary  Being, 
finds  in  the  fall  of  a  leaf,  in  the  formation  or  death  of  an  insect,  an 
evident  demonstration  of  the  contingency  of  matter. 


CHRISTIAN    SOLUTION.  35 

III.  If  matter  were  eternal  the  revolutions  of  matter  would 
e  also  eternal;  and  as  each  of  its  revolutions  can  be  expressed 

by  unity  we  should  be  obliged  to  accept  the  strange  absurdity 
of  an  actually  infinite  series  of  finite  unities. 

IV.  The  necessary  Being  is  evidently  the  absolute  being, 
the  source  even  of  being,  the  most  perfect  of  beings ;  for  as 
nothing  could  exist  without  Him,  all  the  perfections  that  he 
did  not  possess,  would  be  impossible  and  unattainable.    Now 
who  would  attribute  to  matter,  I  will  not  say  all  perfections, 
but  only  those  which  we  find  in  ourselves,  life,  feeling,  intel- 
ligence, liberty !     There  have  been  philosophers  so  stupid  as 
to  question  whether  organization  could  not  impart  to  matter 
the  faculty  of  thinking  (Locke) ;  but  I  do  not  know  that  tir '" 
have  been  any  stupid  enough  to  say  that  matter  is  esf  t/Ytially, 
and  sovereignly  intelligent,  and  that  there  is  at  least  as  much 
intellectual  power  in  a  pebble  as  in  the  brain  of  a  Newton. 

What  do  the  advocates  of  the  eternity  of  matter  answer 
to  these  and  a  multitude  of  other  absurdities  which  flow  from 
the  materialistic  jnnciple  ?  Let  us  listen  to  the  most  cele- 
brated FSP-tarialist  of  the  age,  Broussais,  while  making  his 
jrofestilon  of  faith  in  presence  of  this  nothing,  in  which  he 
uelieved  himself  about  to  be  swallowed  up.  "  I  feel,  as  man3 
others,  that  an  intelligence  has  ordered  everything ;  but  can  I 
conclude  from  this  that  it  has  created  everything  ?  I  cannot, 
because  experience  furnishes  me  with  no  representation  of 
an  absolute  creation  ....  No  matter  how  frequently  it  is 
said  to  me,  "  Nature  cannot  have  created  itself;  then  an  in- 
telligent power  must  have  done  it."  I  answer :  "  yes  ;  but  I 
can  form  no  idea  of  this  power.  I  retain  then  the  sentiment 
of  a  ruling  intelligence,  which  I  dare  not  call  creative, 
although  it  should  be  so."  * 

*  D&veloppement  de  mon  opinion  et  expression  de  ma  foi,  in  the 
Historical  Notice  of  M.  Broussais,  published  by  M.  H.  de  Montegre. 
The  following  is  not  a  less  remarkable  specimen  of  the  logic  of  M- 


30  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Is  not  this  evidence  overwhelming!  In  the  course  of  his 
varied  experience,  Broussais  never  saw  an  atom  come  forth 
from  nothing,  he  never  encountered  in  his  path  the  creative 
power ;  and  consequently  could  not  represent  it,  nor  make 
an  image  of  it  to  himself.*  How  could  this  power  then 
exist  ? 

Yet  M.  Broussais  should  have  told  us  how  he  perceived 
the  ruling  intelligence,  and  what  idea  he  found  in  it.  It  can- 
not be  that  the  creative  power  is  inodorous;  and  yet  with  so 
fine  a  sense  M.  Broussais  should  have  scented  it ;  perhaps  ho 
has  not  approached  sufficiently  near! 

We  here  see  to  what  excess  of  folly  atheists  are  led. 
When  we  would  sift  their  miserable  sophisms,  they  never  fail 

Broussais  :  "  I  fear  nothing,  and  hope  nothing  from  another  life ;  for  I 
cannot  represent  it  to  myself."  (ibid.)  This  is  the  reasoning  of  a  con- 
vict, who,  refusing  to  sign  an  appeal,  the  success  of  which  was  entirely 
certain,  should  answer  to  the  solicitations  of  his  defenders  and  friends  : 
"  Gentlemen,  I  have  never  been  guillotined ;  I  have  never  been  pre- 
sent at  an  execution ;  I  have  never  seen  a  guillotine,  and  I  cannot 
imagine  one.  I  therefore  have  a  conviction  that  it  is  a  chimera.  It  is 
impossible  for  me  to  share  your  alarm."  It  is,  in  truth,  a  great  honor 
for  religion  to  count  such  forcible  reasoners  among  its  most  learned 
despisers. 

*  When  Broussais  said  that  he  could  not  form  an  idea  of  the  creative 
power,  he  no  doubt  meant  a  sensible  idea  (an  image)  and  not  an  intel- 
lectual idea;  for  since  he  speaks  of  the  creation,  he  must  really  have 
an  idea  of  it,  and  attach  a  meaning  to  this  word,  under  pain  of  acknowl- 
edging that  he  does  not  know  what  he  says.  The  idea,  or  rather  the 
notion  of  creation,  includes  the  idea  of  being,  of  not  being,  and  the 
passage  from  one  to  the  other.  To  say  that  these  three  ideas  are  in- 
accessible to  the  human  mind,  would  be  to  deny  the  existence  of  ever,, 
idea  whatever.  This  notion  is  so  familiar,  that  it  is  found  everywhere , 
even  in  fairy  tales.  It  is  true  we  do  not  seize  it  in  all  its  depth ;  bu>. 
"  Pour  conscvoir  a  fond  la  puissance  supreme, 
II  n'y  a  qu'un  meyen  . . .  il  faut  etre  elle-meme." 

To  conceive  completely  the  Supreme  power,  there  is  but  one  means 
we  must  be  it. 


METAPHYSICAL    PROOFS.  37 

to  say  to  us:  "  Show  us  God;  tell  us  what  form  he  has  ;  let 
us  see  paradise  and  hell,  and  we  will  believe."* 

We  should  answer  them  ;  "  Since  you  are  unable  to  see 
anything  that  does  not  fall  under  the  senses,  choose  between 
the  forest  and  the  stable,  the  necessary  abodes  of  creatures 
without  reason. |" 

This  is  what  is  called  an  argument  ad  cancm. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

CONTINUATION. METAPHYSICAL    PROOFS. PROOFS    FROM 

FEELING. 

IF  there  is  not  an  atom  in  the  material  Universe  which 
does  not  proclaim  a  creative  and  regulating  power,  there  is 
not  a  fact  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  order  which  does  not 
present  the  same  truth  to  the  meditative  mind. 

*  Such,  in  fact,  were  the  assertions  of  the  atheists  of  the  Institute  to 
Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre.  Let  us  quote  M.  Aime  Martin.  "  At  the 
first  words  of  his  solemn  declaration  of  his  religious  principles,  a  cry 
of  fury  rose  from  all  parts  of  the  hall.  Some  hissed  him,  asking  where 
he  had  seen  God,  and  what  figure  he  had  ;  others  were  indignant  at  his 
credulity  ;  the  calmest  addressed  to  him  contemptuous  words.  From 
sport  they  proceeded  to  insults  :  they  insulted  his  old  age,  they  treated 
him  as  a  weak  and  superstitious  man,  they  threatened  to  drive  him  from 
an  assembly  of  which  he  was  unworthy,  and  their  madness  was  carried 
so  far  as  to  challenge  him  to  fight,  that  they  might  prove  to  him,  sword 
in  hand,  that  there  was  no  God.  He  endeavored  in  vain,  in  the  midst 
of  the  tumult,  to  utter  a  word ;  they  refused  to  hear  him,  and  the 
idealist  Cabanis,  (he  is  the  only  one  wre  shall  name,)  beside  himself 
with  anger,  cried — '  I  swear  that  there  is  no  God  !  and  I  beg  that  his 
name  may  never  be  pronounced  in  this  place.'" — Essai  sur  la  vie  de 
Bernardin  de  Saint  Pierre. 

t  Reason  is  really  the  faculty  of  seeing  what  the  senses  do  not  see. 
My  dog  visits  with  me  the  triumphal  arch  de  1'Etoile,  the  Tuilleries, 
4 


38  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

But  we  must  not  dwell  on  this  subject.  The  age  of  pro- 
gress is  too  unfriendly  to  the  metaphysical  world.  As  there 
are  no  mines  of  gold,  silver,  copper,  or  even  coal  to  be  found 
in  it,  it  is  forgotten  entirely.  Let  us  address  a  few  words  to 
these  solitary  travellers  who  are  still  winding  their  way 
through  it,  and  then  resume  our  humble  rout. 

I.  The  finite,  the  imperfect,  exists ;  how  can  the  infinite, 
the  perfect  then,  not  exist !     Could  perfection,  that  is  to  say 
being,  be  a  reason  for  not  being  ! 

II.  We  have  the  idea  of  infinite  perfection :  *  it  exists  then ; 
if  it  were  not,  we  could  have  no  idea  of  it. 

III.  God  is  possible,  by  the  avowal  even  of  the  atheist : 
then  he  exists ;  for  the  idea  of  him  implies  the  idea  of  ex- 
istence ;  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  him  as  non-existing. 

IV.  What  is  understood  by  God  ?    The  Supreme  Being,  the 
being  of  beings,  he  who  alone  can  say — /  am  He  u-ho  is.    To 
deny  the  existence  of  this  being,  is  to  say — He  who  is,  is  not ! 

V.  Man  thinks,  and  did  not  create  himself;  he  is  then  the 
work  of  an  intelligent  being. 

VI.  Man  does  not  think  without  speech ;  he  speaks  only 
as  he  is  spoken  to.     Wre  must  then  recognize  a  being  who 
has  spoken  to  man,  or  created  him  speaking,  &c.  &c.  &c. 

the  Louvre,  Notre  Dame,  St.  Genevieve,  &c.  ;  he  sees  all  that  I  see, 
except  Napoleon  and  the  grand  army,  Philibert  de  Lorme,  Perrault, 
Maurice  de  Sully,  and  Soufflet. 

*  It  has  been  often  objected  that  the  idea  of  the  infinite  is  negative ; 
it  has  been  as  often  answered  that  if  this  word  includes  a  negative  (not 
finite),  it  is  only  in  the  grammatical  form,  and  that  in  fact  it  is  pecu- 
liarly affirmative.  What  in  reality  is  the  finite  being,  if  not  the  being 
which  has  limits,  which  fails  of  ulterior  perfection  ?  The  idea  of  the 
finite,  although  announced  under  an  affirmative  form,  is  then  essen- 
tially negative.  The  idea  of  the  infinite,  on  the  contrary,  containing 
the  absolute  negation  of  every  negation,  is  the  most  positive  that  can 
be  conceived.  It  is  the  idea  of  being,  and  nothing  but  being,  free  from 
all  idea  of  non-existence.  See  Fenelon,  Demonstration  de  Pexistence 
de  Dieu,  2e-  part,  ch.  2. — Bossuet,  Elevation,  Qe.  ch. 


METAPHYSICAL    PROOFS.  39 

These  principles,  attentively  considered,  appeared  so  evi- 
dent to  Descartes,  Bossuet,  Fenelon,  Pascal,  Malebranche, 
La  Bruyere,  Leibnitz,  Gerdil,  de  Maistre,  Bonald,  &c.,  that 
they  could  not  conceive  the  extravagance  of  the  atheist. 
"  Oh  God,"  cried  the  eagle  of  Meaux,  "  one  is  lost  in  such 
total  blindness  !"* 

The  heart  also  makes  its  demonstrations,  unanswerable 
demonstrations  for  every  man  in  whom  brutal  sensation  has 
not  extinguished  sentiment. 

I  shall  speak  presently  of  the  irresistible  tendency  of  the 
heart  towards  the  infinite — a  tendency  still  more  absurd  than 
incontestable,  if  the  infinite  did  not  exist.  At  present  I  shall 
limit  myself  to  a  single  fact. 

"  You  cannot  deny,"  I  would  say  to  the  impious  man,  "that 
God  has  had  and  still  has  a  multitude  of  ardent  lovers,  ready 
to  suffer  everything  rather  than  displease  him,  and  whose 
whole  life  is  one  perpetual  aspiration  towards  heaven." 

See  the  young  Catholic  missionary,  tearing  himself  from 
the  arms  of  his  family  and  friends,  traversing  unknown  seas, 
approaching,  cross  in  hand,  the  cannibals  of  the  forests  of 
America,  or  the  isles  of  Oceanica ;  braving  every  day,  in 
Japan,  Corea,  Tong-King  and  Cochin  China,  tortures  of 
which  even  the  thought  makes  us  shudder.  What  does  he 
desire?  To  make  his  God  known  and  loved,  to  enkindle  all 
hearts  with  the  fire  that  consumes  him. 

See  the  Sister  of  Charity  at  the  pillow  of  the  dying ;  the 
brother  and  the  sister  of  the  Christian  schools  surrounded 
with  half-naked  children. 

Let  us  listen  to  the  Trappist,  the  Chartreux,  the  Carmelite, 
the  Capuchin,  chanting  in  the  depths  of  midnight,  the  hymn 
of  love,  and  only  consoling  themselves  for  the  length  o"f  their 
exile,  by  the  length  of  their  prayers. 

Let   us  follow    the    priest   to    the  hospital  of   fever   and 
*  Eh -nation,  Ire. 


40  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

cholera. — See  him  by  the  light  of  philosophic  omnipotence, 
refusing  the  word  which  would  save  his  life,  and  going  to 
death  as  if  going  to  his  bridal* 

Have  you  never  heard  the  fervent  Christian  on  his  death 
bed,  sigh  with  more  ardor  after  his  God,  than  the  hart  fo 
the  water -brooks  1 — (Ps.  xli.  1.) 

Could  a  sentiment  so  profound,  so  permanent,  so  hero  t; 
in  its  effects,  exist  without  a  real  object?  Is  non-existence 
capable  of  teaching,  of  moving  so  powerfully  the  heart  of 
man !  \  He  is  too  often  led  to  mistake  copper  for  gold, 
and  to  be  in  love  with  vanities ;  but  has  any  one  eve/  been 
known  to  sacrifice  his  repose,  his  pleasures,  his  dearesi:  aflec- 
tions  and  his  life  to  the  pursuit  of  an  absolute  chimera! 

If  the  spontaneous  movement  of  the  needle  is  only  ex- 
plained by  the  presence  of  the  loadstone,  how  will  you  who 
deny  the  celestial  magnet,  explain  the  religious  att/action  of 
the  human  heart,  of  that  heart  no  less  subjected  to  the  love 
of  terrestrial  beauty,  than  iron  is  to  the  law  of  gravity ! 
Show  us  among  your  followers,  the  passionate  lover  of 
chance,  the  devotee  of  nature,  the  martyr  of  nothingness. 

This  is  not  all :  God  is  hated.  Thanks  to  the  philosophy 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  we  have  seen  what  was  never  seen 
before,  numerous  assemblies  convulsed  at  hearing  the  name 
of  God  pronounced.  We  have  seen  fanatics  shrink  before 
no  crime  that  would  annihilate  the  idea  of  the  Supremo 
Being. — Can  nothingness  inspire  such  hatred  !  Does  not  so 
furious  a  reaction  in  the  heart  of  the  impious  man  prove 

*  The  following  is  the  expression  of  the  commissary  of  September, 
Viollet,  who  was  appointed  to  preside  over  the  massacre  of  a  hundred 
and  eighty  priests,  confined  at  the  Carmelite  convent:  "  I  am  lost,  I 
am  overwhelmed  with  astonishment,  I  cannot  conceive  of  it :  your 
priests  marched  to  execution  with  the  same  joy,  the  same  as  they 
would  have  gone  to  their  nuptials."  Barruel,  HLttnirf  du  clergS  pen- 
dant la  Revolution,  torn.  II,  p.  97. 

t  Tantus  amor  nihili !  (.Znti-Lucrct.) 


VARIOUS    SOLUTIONS.  41 

that  he  feels  himself  wounded  and  crushed  by  the  divine 
presence ! 

You  who  wish  to  see  God,  behold !  You  will  see  him 
alike  in  the  sweet  tears  which  the  thought  of  him  draws  from 
the  eyes  of  the  dying  just  man,  and  in  the  rage  that  foams 
at  the  mention  of  his  name,  on  the  lips  that  deny  him. 

We  now  see  that  the  Christian  alone  shows  himself  a  man 
by  the  solution  he  gives  to  this  first  question :  Whence  do  I 
c.ome  ?  Let  us  proceed  to  the  two  following  questions. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

VAKIOUS    SOLUTIONS    OF    THE    TWO    QUESTIONS  :    WHAT    AM 
I  ?    WHERE    AM    I    GOING  ? 

THE  materialist  answers:  "I  am  matter;  a  more  perfect 
organization  giving  me  over  other  animals  the  advantage  of 
speech  and  thought.  Eager  for  pleasure,  an  enemy  of  suf- 
fering, my  only  duty  is  to  procure  the  one  and  avoid  the 
other,  till  death  comes  to  annihilate  my  being  in  the  dust  of 
the  tomb." 

The  pantheist  answers :  "  I  am  one  of  the  innumerable 
manifestations  of  the  universal  being.  Like  the  bubble 
which  rises  for  an  instant  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  I  shall 
soon  return  to  the  common  mass ;  to  contribute  to  the  life 
of  the  Great  Whole,  by  the  energetic  display  of  my  facul- 
ties, is  my  sole  destiny  and  my  sole  duty,  during  my  ephem- 
eral existence." 

The  Christian  answers:  "Man  is  an  intelligence,  created 
in  the  divine  likeness  and  united  to  a  body.  Related  to  God 
by  his  superior  faculties,  and  to  visible  nature  by  his  bodily 
organs  he  is  the  link  destined  to  unite  the  material  creation 


42  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

to  the  Creator.  Endowed  with  prerogatives  adapted  to  his 
sublime  destiny,  man  was  at  first  happy  because  he  was  just 
and  good.  His  soul,  in  subjection  to  God,  peaceably  ruled 
his  body,  and  all  nature  by  means  of  his  body.  If  faithful 
to  the  divine  law,  he  had  directed  the  exercise  of  his  facul- 
ties to  the  completion  of  the  divine  image,  his  intellect,  pro- 
gressively enlightened  by  the  rays  of  divine  light,  would  have 
passed  from  the  twilight  of  faith  to  the  brightness  of  intui- 
tion. The  mind  then  being  perfectly  in  harmony  with  God, 
would  have  brought  the  body  into  harmony  with  itself,  and 
nature,  united  to  its  head,  would  have  attained  the  highest 
degree  of  life  and  perfection." 

Unhappily  man  violated  the  divine  precept.  The  rebellion 
of  the  spirit  against  God,  led  to  the  rebellion  of  the  body 
against  the  spirit,  and  that  of  nature  against  the  entire  man. 
Degraded  and  unhappy,  subject  to  ignorance,  suffering  and 
death,  man  would  have  fallen  into  the  lowest  degree  of 
abjectness  and  misery,  if  God  had  not  resolved  to  save  him 
by  a  divine  effort ! 

The  Word,  by  whom  all  things  were  made,  was  chosen  to 
restore  all  things.  Clothed  with  our  miserable  nature,  he 
appeared  in  the  midst  of  us,  full  of  grace  and  truth,  and 
opened  to  us,  by  his  sacrifice,  his  doctrine  and  his  example, 
the  way  of  salvation.  To  submit  the  intellect  and  will  to 
God  through  faith  and  love ;  to  subject  the  flesh  to  the  spirit 
by  the  rules  of  penance ;  to  reconquer,  through  love  of  pov- 
erty, our  superiority  over  nature  by  detaching  the  heart  from 
the  unreal  good  that  she  offers  us,  is  the  object  of  the 
evangelical  commands,  the  whole  duty  of  man,  the  only  way 
•which  can  conduct  him  to  the  kingdom  that  has  been  pre- 
pared for  him  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

Which  of  these  three  solutions  merits  the  assent  of  men  ? 


SOLUTION    OF    THE    MATERIALIST.  43 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THE    SOLUTION    OF    THE    MATERIALIST. IS    MAN    WHOLLY 

MATERIAL  ? 

I  AM  surprised  that  thinking  men  can  be  found,  sufficiently 
calm  and  masters  of  their  feelings,  to  refute  coolly  the  ex- 
treme absurdity  of  materialism. 

I  listen  with  interest  to  the  honest  man  who,  unaccustomed 
to  reflection,  tells  me  of  his  doubts  with  regard  to  the  spiritu- 
ality of  the  thinking  being;  but  when  a  writer,  who  exalts 
himself  into  a  public  teacher,  affirms  with  an  arrogant  and 
decided  tone,  that  thought  is  a  physical  secretion  which  differs 
from  other  secretions  only — (for  example,  ...  I  dare  not 
finish,) — only  by  its  subtilty,  my  indignation  forces  me  to 
throw  away  the  book,  and  I  see  only  one  possible  refutation, 
that  is,  to  go  scourge  in  hand,  and  take  some  drops  of  blood 
from  the  presumptuous  biped. 

What  can  be  said  to  one  who  maintains  that  he  is  an  ani- 
mal, and  whose  reasoning  ends  with  this  conclusion:  "Do 
you  agree  with  me  that  I  am  a  brute  ?"  "  Sir,"  I  should 
answer,  "you  may  be  excused  from  giving  proof;  since  it  is 
a  personal  affair,  I  will  believe  it  on  your  word." 

Let  no  one,  then,  expect  from  me  a  detailed  refutation  of 
materialism.  A  few  principles  will  be  sufficient  for  the  in- 
telligent reader. 

If  there  is  one  indisputable  fact  of  human  consciousness, 
it  is,  that  there  exists  in  us  a  principle  of  unity,  activity,  and 
liberty.  It  is  a  fact  no  less  indisputable,  that  unity,  activity 
and  liberty,  are  incompatible  with  matter. 

The  indivisible  unity  of  our  thinking  being,  and  conse- 
quently its  spirituality,  is  demonstrated  both  by  the  testimony, 
consciousness,  and  the  unity  of  our  intellectual  operations. 


44  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

I.  Testimony   o-f  consciousness. — I  feel  that  I  exist,  and 
that  I  am  distinguished  not  only  from  beings  external  to  my- 
self, but  even  from  my  own  organization.     1st.  In  fact,  the 
consciousness  of  individuality,  in  the  first  place,  is  indivisible 
and  invariable.     It  is  not  increased  with  my  strength  ;  it  is 
not  diminished  with  it ;  it  is  not  diminished  by  the  loss  of  any 
of  my  organs,  as  is  evident  from  the  experience  of  those  who 
have   suffered   amputation.     2d.  This    consciousness   is   not 
local.     It  is  certain  that  my  personality  cannot  be  referred  to 
the  brain,  to  any  special  organ,  or  to  the  entire  organization. 
3d.  By  my  consciousness  I  learn  not  only  my  existence,  but 
also  my  operations ;  I  am  conscious  that  I  think,  that  I  re- 
flect, that  I  will,  &c.     No  one  has  taught  me  that  I  have 
intelligence  and  will,  and  that  it  is  I  who  think  and  will,  &c. ; 
but  if  I  had  not  been  informed  that  I  had  a  brain,  heart, 
stomach,  arteries,  veins,  &c.,  and  that  these  are  constantly 
employed  for  the  support  of  my  body,  I  should  always  have 
been  ignorant  of  it ;  my  consciousness  tells  me  nothing  of  it. 

Is  anything  more  needed  to  prove  that  the  being  revealed 
by  my  consciousness,  is  absolutely  distinct  from  my  body ! 
For  if  my  consciousness  had  its  seat  in  my  organization,  it 
would  inevitably  follow,  in  the  first  place,  that  my  personal- 
ity would  have  been  subjected  to  all  the  variations  of  my 
material  existence.  Secondly,  it  would  comprehend  all  the 
indivisible  particles  which  compose  my  physical  being,  or  it 
would  only  comprehend  one :  in  the  first  case,  I  should  be- 
come a  thousand  persons  instead  of  one ;  in  the  other,  this 
myself,  which  is  so  important  to  me,  would  be  infinitely  small, 
and  as  imperceptible  as  the  atom  which  contains  it.  Thirdly, 
my  personality  would  give  me  the  consciousness  of  the  cere- 
bral and  digestive  functions,  &c.,  and  would  teach  me  how 
to  rectify  my  digestion  and  clarify  my  blood,  as  it  teaches 
me  how  to  modify  my  judgments  and  enlighten  my  ideas. 

II.  Unity  of  our  intellectual  operations. — According  to  the 


SOLUTION    OF    THE    MATERIALIST.  45 

avowal  of  the  materialist,  matter  is  essentially  divisible ;  it 
can  produce,  then,  nothing  indivisible,  for  the  effect  can  never 
be  of  a  different  nature  from  its  cause.  Now,  the  operations 
of  the  thinking  being,  such  as  thought,  judgment,  and  voli- 
tion, are  evidently  simple  and  indivisible. 

Activity  of  the  thinking  being. — 1st.  I  have  the  power  of 
thinking,  acting,  judging,  willing,  moving  my  body,  and  that 
spontaneously,  without  any  external  impulse.  Now,  matter 
is  passive,  and  incapable  of  spontaneous  motion.  Can  or- 
ganization bestow  this  faculty  ?  Evidently  not.  Organiza- 
tion being  only  a  combination  of  parts  among  themselves, 
will  never  give  to  the  whole  what  is  radically  foreign  to  each 
part.  Every  particle  of  matter  being  to  the  faculty  of  acting 
as  0  to  1,  the  combination  of  a  hundred  thousand  particles 
will  no  more  give  the  faculty  of  acting,  than  the  combination 
of  a  hundred  thousand  zeros  will  produce  unity. 

2d.  If  the  principle  which  perceives,  thinks,  and  wills  in 
me,  were  the  result  of  organization,  my  perceptions,  my 
thoughts,  my  volitions,  would  be  necessarily  circumscribed 
within  the  limits  of  my  organs. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  form  within  myself  a  rep- 
resentation so  vast  as  that  of  the  earth  and  heavens.  How 
could  the  little  image  which  the  luminous  rays  paint  upon  the 
retina,  acquire  a  development  disproportioned  to  its  extent  ? 
Let  the  materialist  show  us  a  picture  larger  than  its  canvass. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  conceive  of  those  events 
which  have  never  reached  my  senses  ;  for  example,  to  be 
present  at  a  battle  which  was  fought  two  thousand  years  ago. 
How  could  the  lines  which  I  read,  or  the  sounds  which  I 
hear,  produce  upon  my  brain  and  heart  the  same  impression 
as  the  sight  of  the  combat. 

It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  exercise  my  thought  upon 
the  things  that  are  not,  and  to  foresee  the  future ;  still  more 
impossible  to  rise  to  considerations  and  sentiments  totally 


46  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

foreign  to  my  organs ;  such  as  abstract  and  general  truths, 
the  idea  of  good  and  evil,  of  justice  and  injustice,  of  the  love 
of  virtue,  of  the  infinite,  &c. 

3d.  The  thinking  being  reacts  on  itself.  It  not  only  thinks, 
but  it  is  conscious  that  it  thinks,  it  reflects  on  its  thought. 
Now,  this  is  impossible  in  a  material  being.  An  atom,  put  in 
motion,  will  react  on  those  contiguous  to  it ;  but  that  it  should 
react  on  itself,  is  an  absurdity  so  revolting,  that  the  least 
fastidious  of  materialists  will  find  it  difficult  to  receive  it. 

Liberty  of  the  thinking  being. — Matter  is  blindly  submis- 
sive to  the  action  of  external  agents ;  it  can  neither  avoid, 
nor  suspend,  nor  prolong  the  effects  of  the  impressions  that 
it  receives  from  them.  I  am  not,  then,  matter ;  for  next  to 
the  consciousness  of  existence,  the  most  lively  sentiment  in 
me  is  that  of  liberty.  I  think,  reason,  and  feel  freely.  Among 
different  impressions,  I  can  choose  one,  and  attach  myself  to 
it  in  such  a  manner,  that  I  become  insensible  to  every  other, 
as  occurs  so  often  in  the  phenomenon  of  abstraction,  where 
my  mind,  exclusively  occupied  with  one  object,  hears  nothing 
feels  nothing,  sees  nothing  that  is  passing  around  me. 

But  a  much  more  singular  effect  of  my  liberty  is,  that  in 
certain  cases,  I  can  will  the  destruction  of  my  body.  The 
fact,  alas !  too  frequent  of  suicide,  will  always  continue,  ac- 
cording to  the  principles  of  materialism,  a  revolting  enigma 
I  shall  only  give  two  reasons  for  it. 

1.  The  most  universal,  profound,  and  indestructible  deter- 
mination, in  all  living  beings,  is  the  desire  of  preservation,  the 
will  to  be.  Hence,  in  animals,  the  extreme  energy  with  which 
they  repel  everything  that  menaces  their  existence ;  hence,  in 
our  own  bodies,  the  violent  reaction  of  the  stomach  against 
poisons;  hence,  "in  the  moment  of  peril,  that  extraordinary 
instinct  which  enables  me  to  discover  powers  superior  to  the 
habitual  strength  of  my  organs,  resources  superior  to  the 
ordinary  resources  of  my  mind."  How  could  man  evade 


SOLUTION    OF    THE    MATERIALIST.  47 

this  law  of  nature,  if  there  were  not  in  him  a  being  which 
can  say  to  the  body :  "  Thou  art  my  enemy,  an  obstacle  to 
my  well-being  ;  die  then !" 

2.  Suicide,  in  the  system  of  the  materialist,  would  be  the 
reaction  of  matter  against  itself;  which  we  have  already  said 
implies  contradiction.* 

What  does  materialism  oppose  to  demonstrations  so  nu- 
merous and  so  palpable,  of  the  immateriality  of  our  thinking 
being.  Let  us  listen  to  Broussais  in  the  expression  of  his  faith. 

"  As  soon  as  I  had  learned  from  surgery  that  matter,  ac- 
cumulated on  the  surface  of  the  brain,  destroyed  our  faculties, 
and  that  the  evacuation  of  this  matter  permitted  them  to  re- 
vive, I  could  no  longer  consider  them  otherwise  than  as  the 
acts  of  a  living  brain,  although  I  neither  know  what  the  brain 
is,  nor  what  life  is." 

The  justice  of  such  an  induction  can  in  no  way  be  better 
understood  than  by  a  similar  mode  of  reasoning. — At  the 
battle  of a  brave  officer  of  my  acquaintance,  travers- 
ing a  marsh  to  meet  the  enemy  more  quickly,  sunk  in  the 
mire  with  many  others,  and  arrived  like  a  coward,  too  late. 
As  soon  as  I  discovered  that  the  mud  on  his  legs  destroyed 
his  courage,  and  that  to  restore  it,  it  was  only  necessary  to  dis- 
engage them,  I  could  no  longer  consider  valor  and  intrepidity 
as  anything  but  the  acts  of  free  and  unembarrassed  legs ! 

*  See  de  Bonald,  Recherches  philosophiques,  torn.  1.  ch.  9. — Blaud, 
Trait&  climentaire  de  physiologic  torn.  1.  ch.  3 


48  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

SOLUTION    OF    THE    MATERIALIST    AND    PANTHEIST. IS    THE 

DESTINY    OF    MAN    LIMITED    TO    THE    PRESENT    LIFE  ? 
IDEA    OF   TRUE   HAPPINESS. 

LET  us  at  first  establish  some  principles. — Although  the 
actual  constitution  of  the  world  presents  some  signs  of  wrath 
and  severity — for  which  we  shall  by  and  by  give  the  reasons 
— it  is  no  less  evident  on  that  account  that  the  creation  is 
the  work  of  love. 

If  God  has  created  every  thing  for  his  glory,*  does  not 
the  glory  of  an  infinitely  good  Being  consist  in  producing 
happiness  ?  God  has  not  created  death  ;  he  could  not  rejoice 
in  the  destruction  of  his  creatures.f  By  calling  us  into 
existence,  he  calls  us  to  share  his  happiness.  If  the  leaven 
of  death  is  fermenting  in  the  midst  of  his  work,  he  has  not 
placed  it  there.f 

In  what  consists  the  happiness  of  man  ?  It  consists  in 
freedom  from  all  evils,  produced  by  his  enjoyment  of  the 
blessings  which  are  adapted  to  his  nature.  In  other  words, 
it  is  the  legitimate,  complete  and  harmonious  development  of 
all  our  essential  faculties.  We  will  here  enter  into  some 
details  which  cannot  but  satisfy  these  who  love  to  satisfy 
their  reason. 

Man  considered  in  his  essential  existence,  presents  himself 
to  us  as  a  system  of  intellectual  and  physical  faculties, 

*  Universa  propter  semetipsum  operatus  cst  Dominus.  (Prov.  xvi.  1.) 
f  Quoniam  Deus  mortem  non  fecit,  nee  Icetatur  in  perditione  viro- 

rum.  (Sap.  i.  13.) 

f  Creavit  enim,  ut  essent  omnia:  et  sanabiles  fecit  nationes  orbis 

terrarum :  et  non  est  in  illis  medicamentum  exterminii,  nee  inferorum 

regnum  in  terra.    (Sap.  i.  1-1.) 


IDEA    OF    HAPPINESS.  49 

subordinate  to  each  other  and  all  employed  in  unfolding  the 
germ  of  life  which  the  creator  has  planted  in  them. 

Every  faculty,  having  its  object,  naturally  tends  to  unite 
with  it  by  an  act,  which  is  the  remote  or  immediate  applica- 
tion of  the  faculty  to  its  object.  This  tendency  is  called 
desire,  inclination,  want.  An  ungratified  desire  produces 
suffering,  or  a  painful  consciousness  of  the  privation  of  a 
necessary  good  Privation  too  long  continued  causes  the 
destruction  of  the  faculty,  or  such  an  injury  that  it  can  no 
longer  enter  into  relations  with  its  object.  This  is  death.* 
Thus  the  visual  power  perishes  for  want  of  light,  the  digestive 
organs  for  want  of  food,  and  the  mind  itself  deprived  of  all 
truth  would  be  as  if  it  were  not. 

Every  faculty  then  lives,  is  preserved  and  perfected  only 
by  its  legitimate  exercise,  that  is  to  say,  by  acts  that  lead  it 
to  the  possession  of  its  object.  Every  act  which  withdraws 
it  from  this  object  is  bad,  out  of  order,  injurious.  Every  act 
which  brings  it  nearer,  is  on  that  account  good  and  in  the 
true  order,  and  increases  the  vitality,  perfection  and  enjoy- 
ment of  the  faculty.  It  reaches,  in  fact,  its  highest  degree 
of  life  and  perfection  when  it  is  perfectly  united  to  its  object. 
All  its  power  then  coming  into  exercise,  causes  a  complete 
development  and  full  enjoj-ment  of  its  existence,  consequently 
a  cessation  of  desire,  of  want;  it  is  in  repose. 

What  we  say  of  each  faculty  may  be  applied  to  man,  as  a 
whole.  He  can  be  happy  only  in  the  total  and  harmonious 
development  of  his  essential  faculties,  f  This  development 

*  Death  is  only,  as  the  Greeks  have  so  well  named  it  (papas)  a 
division,  that  is  an  absolute  and  irrevocable  divorce  between  the  dead 
substance  and  the  principle  which  constituted  its  life. 

t  I  say  essential ;  for  our  physical  faculties,  relating  to  the  preser- 
vation of  the  individual  and  the  species,  are  evidently  accidental  and 
must  disappear  in  the  perfect  man.  Esca  ventri  et  venter  escis.  Deus 
autem  et  hunc  et  has  destruet.  (I.  Cor.  vi.  13.)  In  resurrectione  enini 
neque  nubent,  neque  nubentur.  (Matt.  xxii.  30.) 

5 


50  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

must  extend  to  all  his  faculties ;  for  if  only  one  were  deprived 
of  its  object,  there  would  necessarily  be  derangement  and 
suffering  in  a  part  of  his  being.  This  development  must 
take  place  harmoniously,  that  is,  without  violating  the  natural 
relations  of  dependence  which  exist  among  our  faculties,  the 
unity  and  perfection  of  our  nature  would  suffer  equally  from 
the  exclusive  development  of  our  physical  or  moral  powers. 
In  the  former  case,  the  intellect  would  be  incapable  of  gov- 
erning the  organization ;  in  the  latter,  the  organization  would 
be  incapable  of  serving  the  intellect. 

But  is  not  that  supreme  felicity,  which  is  alone  adequate  to 
fill  up  the  vast  measure  of  our  desires,  a  dream  of  self-love, 
an  imaginary  compensation  for  the  woes  which  we  suffer? — 
If  it  be  a  delusion,  it  is  as  ancient  as  man,  and  I  do  not 
believe  that  he  can  ever  be  disabused  of  it. 

Consider  human  life,  either  in  the  individual  or  in  nations ; 
is  it  anything  but  an  unceasing  aspiration  towards  perfect 
happiness  ?  To  escape  all  suffering  and  enjoy  every  blessing, 
is  the  fixed  idea  of  every  man  who  comes  into  this  world. 
There  is  no  thought  which  does  not  flow  from  this  thought, 
no  project,  no  action  which  does  not  tend  to  realize  it. — It  is 
for  this  that  the  laborer  anticipates  the  sun  in  the  fields,  that 
the  artizan  wearies  himself  in  his  workshop,  that  the  scholar 
pines  away  in  the  midst  of  his  books,  that  the  soldier  braves 
danger,  and  the  prince  assumes  the  crown,  or  tramples  it 
beneath  his  feet. 

Take  away  this  powerful  motive,  and  the  human  race 
deserts  life  in  a  body.  Man  will  consent  to  exist  only  on 
condition  of  being  happ}r.  If  he  is  without  the  hope  of 
becoming  so,  he  throws  aside  the  useless  burden  of  exist- 
ence ;  and  suicide  is  a  desperate  rush  towards  happiness. 

I  would  now  ask  if  man  has  implanted  in  himself  this  irre- 
sistible tendency  to  pure  and  unmingled  well-being?  Since 
happiness  is  the  incessant  cry  of  pur  nature,  the  only  spring 


TRUE    HAPPINESS.  -51 

which  brings  our  faculties  into  pl:iy,  from  whom  could  \vo 
have  received  the  idea,  if  not  from  the  author  of  our  being. 

If  it  is  so,  this  sentiment  cannot  deceive  us :  the  error 
would  fall  back  on  God  ;  his  wisdom  and  his  goodness  would 
be  visibly  at  fault.  Can  any  thing  be  imagined  more  unwor- 
thy of  the  supremely  wise  and  infinitely  good  Being  than  to 
give  to  the  noblest  of  his  creatures  a  faculty  without  its 
object,  a  tendency  without  its  aim ;  and  to  plant  despair  in 
his  heart,  by  kindling  in  it  inextinguishable  desires.  I  have 
then  the  conviction  that  this  thirst  for  the  highest  happiness, 
which  is  consuming  me,  will  be  one  day  quenched ;  if,  faithful 
to  the  laws  of  the  Creator,  I  offer  no  obstacle  to  the  designs 
of  his  love.  To  doubt  this,  would  be  to  fall  into  the  follies 
of  atheism. 

But  is  the  blessed  day  to  shine  on  this  side  or  the  other 
of  the  grave  ? 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

IS    TRUE    HAPPINESS    COMPATIBLE    WITH    OUR    ACTUAL 
EXISTENCE? 

CAN  man,  during  his  earthly  existence,  arrive  at  that  com- 
plete development  of  his  being,  which,  excluding  even  the 
shadow  of  desire  and  want,  would  allow  him  to  enjoy  the 
uninterrupted  repose  of  happiness  ? 

Such  a  question  can  only  be  seriously  contested  by  fools. 
Yet,  as  I  write  for  every  body,  it  will  not  be  useless  to  estab- 
lish some  principles  suited  to  facilitate  the  discussion. 

Whatever  may  be  the  disagreement  of  philosophers  with 
regard  to  the  sovereign  good,  all  agree  that  it  must  corres- 
pond to  the  fundamental  desires  of  our  nature ;  the  desire  of 


62  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

knowing,  acting,  and  enjoying.  Knowledge  without  a  cloud, 
power  without  weakness,  enjoyment  exempt  from  all  suffer- 
ing; these  are  the  three  elements  of  that  fountain  of  life,  into 
which  our  heart  longs  to  plunge.  Is  the  earth  rich  and  large 
enough  to  furnish  a  laver  for  each  of  the  nine  hundred 
millions  which  it  contains? 

Many  persons  will  refuse  to  believe  that  knowledge  is  the 
first  condition  of  happiness.  Persuaded  that  thought  exists 
for  the  advantage  of  the  stomach,  they  wish  for  science  only 
in  their  kitchen,  and  will  willingly  join  Madame  du  Defiant  in 
saying,  that  a  good  supper  is  one  of  the  four  last  ends  of  man, 
which  makes  him  forget  the  three  others.  There  are  many 
circumstances  however,  in  which  these  poor  souls  will  forget 
their  last  end,  to  gratify  a  passion  still  more  vehement,  the 
passion  for  knowledge. 

At  the  very  moment  when  the  most  vigorous  appetite  gathers 
them  around  a  table  regally  served,  if  a  great  tumult,  and 
throngs  of  people  crowding  the  streets,  announce  some  ex- 
traordinary event,  no  doubt  our  gastronomers  would  belie  the 
proverb:  A  famished  stomach  has  neither  eyes  nor  ears. 

Who  has  not  experienced,  many  times  in  his  life,  that  an 
intense  degree  of  curiosity  stifles  the  cries  of  want,  soothes 
the  keenest  sufferings,  and  thro\vs  the  soul  into  a  kind  of  rap- 
ture. 

Impelled  by  an  instinctive  idea,  which  is  secretly  ferment- 
ing in  the  depth  of  our  thoughts,  we  are  all  in  quest  of  an 
object  capable  of  satisfying  our  immense  desire  to  sec  and 
know.  This  mysterious  intellectual  aliment,  the  child  seeks 
in  his  nurse's  tales;  the  youth  in  the  brilliant  dreams  of 
romance ;  the  throng  of  idle  persons  in  the  diversions  of  the 
theatre,  and  the  excitements  of  the  political  world  ;  the  scholar 
in  the  sublime  meditations  of  the  closet,  or  the  profound  in- 
vestigations of  nature. 

Vain  efforts  !     The  greatest  events  of  earth  are  too  small, 


TRUE    HAPPINESS.  53 


the  most  profound  truths,  accessible  to  our  actual  means  of 
knowledge,  are  too  superficial  to  retain  us  in  their  contempla- 
tion. That  spectacle,  whose  infinite  novelty  can  alone  hold 
the  human  soul  transfixed  in  an  eternal  ecstasy,  is  only  offered 
beyond  the  tomb.  Until  death  raises  the  curtain,  let  us  go  to 
the  entrance  hall  of  virtue  to  procure  our  tickets  of  admission. 

Not  content  with  knowing,  man  also  wishes  to  do.  Frovn 
the  boxer  in  the  street,  to  the  men  of  ambition  who  dispute 
upon  the  steps  of  the  throne,  we  are  all  eager  for  power. 
There  is  no  one  who  does  not  more  or  less  aspire  to  the 
honor  of  throwing  the  world  around  him  into  commotion. 

What,  however,  is  more  wonderful  than  our  weakness ! 
What  power  have  we  in  the  physical  order  ?  Dethroned 
kings  of  the  earth,  we  can  only,  sword  in  hand,  wrest  from 
it  a  little  food  for  our  sustenance,  and  a  tomb.  The  number- 
less inventions  of  art  do  honor  to  our  genius  less  than  they 
display  our  impotence.  Should  we  demand  wings  of  wand  or 
flame,  if  our  cumbrous  organization  could  dart  into  the  air, 
and  fly  over  the  surface  of  the  earth  at  the  will  of  thought  ? 
What  would  avail  iron  and  saltpetre,  if  a  rock  were  not  a 
sufficient  barrier  to  the  march  of  the  most  powerful  army  ? 

What  a  truly  frightful  disproportion  between  our  wishes 
and  our  powers !  An  instant  only  was  needed  by  the  Pha- 
raohs of  Egypt  to  plan  and  order  the  pyramids,  but  the  exe 
cution  required  many  centuries,  and  millions  of  hands.  The 
material  force  of  the  whole  globe  would  be  powerless  to  ac- 
complish what  even  the  most  ordinary  mind  can  conceive  im 
a  second. 

Are  we  much  stronger  in  the  political  world  ?  History 
shows  us  three  or  four  heroes  who  did  all  that  man  can  do ; 
and  yet  were  not  their  lives,  like  every  other  life,  a  series  of 
betrayed  wishes  and  abortive  projects  ? 

The  foundations  of  our  political  edifice  are  so  weak,  that  a 
fly  could  overthrow  them.  What  is  needed  to  set  Europe  in 

5* 


54  THE    SOLUTION    OP    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

flames,  and  to  crush  kingdoms  ?  A  venemous  insect,  who 
plunges  his  sting  into  the  last  shoot  of  a  royal  stem.  Rome, 
under  the  Emperor  Arnulf,  was  conquered  by  a  hare.  Not 
long  since,  nations  who  covered  the  seas  with  their  fleets,  have 
been  seen  to  retire  before  a  worm  half  an  inch  in  length.* 

There  certainly  would  be  reason  to  amuse  ourselves  at  the 
expense  of  great  men,  if  we  knew  the  true  cause  of  their 
success,  and  of  the  great  events  on  account  of  which  honor 
is  paid  them.  This  cause  now  escapes  our  observation,  on 
account  of  its  extreme  minuteness,  but  it  will  be  known  on 
the  day  when  all  things  are  made  manifest.  Perhaps  this  is 
the  comic  episode,  designed  to  temper  the  terrors  of  the  last 
scene  of  the  world. 

Would  it  become  us  then  to  wish  to  rule  nature,  when  the 
small  portion  of  matter  united  to  our  soul  incessantly  resists 
our  most  energetic  desires  ?  and  how  can  we  attempt  to  im- 
pose our  will  upon  others,  when  we  are  incapable  of  govern- 
ing ourselves  ? 

Our  miseries  all  arise  from  the  disproportion  between  our 
feelings  and  our  thoughts,  our  power  and  our  will.  There  is 
no  harmony  in  our  being,  and  no  happiness,  so  long  as  our 
heart  is  unequal  to  our  intellect,  and  our  arms  are  less  exten- 
sive than  our  desires. 

Man  is  consumed,  too,  by  his  desire  of  enjoyment.  We 
only  aspire  to  knowledge  that  our  spirit  may  intoxicate  itself 
at  the  delicious  sources  of  truth.  We  earnestly  desire  power, 
only  to  dethrone  suffering,  and  procure  for  ourselves  durable 
satisfaction.  Yet  nothing  is  more  miserable  than  our  enjoy- 
ments. The  noble  pleasures  of  the  intellect  are  purchased 
only  at  the  price  of  the  pleasures  of  the  body.  What  is  the 
privilege,  then,  of  the  truly  wise  and  learned  ?  Is  it  not  to 
know  better  than  any  one  the  extent  of  our  ignorance,  and  to 

*  A  boring  worm,  which  in  1731  and  1732  was  on  the  point  of  destroy- 
ing Zealand,  and  making  the  United  Provinces  tremble  for  their  navy. 


WHY    CAN    WE    NOT    BE    HAPPY?  55 

be  incessantly  disgusted  by  the  many  follies  that  are  in  vogue 
in  the  world.* 

Sweeter  and  more  profound,  without  doubt,  are  the  joys  of 
virtue.  But  who  has  -more  reason  to  lament  our  weakness 
and  vices,  than  he  who  elevates  himself  to  study  and  combat 
them!  Virtue  is  a  tree  with  a 'gigantic  trunk;  its  flower  re- 
joices the  earth  with  its  divine  perfume ;  but  its  fruit  is  gath- 
ered only  in  heaven. 

Lastly,  does  it  belong  to  sensual  delights  to  satisfy  the  heart 
completely  ?  Answer,  illustrious  voluptuaries,  around  whom 
riches  and  power  have  collected  the  most  numerous  throng 
of  smiles  and  pleasures.  Speak,  son  of  David,  thou  who  so 
often  moistened  thy  lips  with  the  cup  of  pleasure,  and  who  with- 
drew them  always  in  disgust.  And  thou,  Tiberius,  inventor  of 
unknown  delights !  tell  us  which  has  suffered  most,  thyself, 
drowned  in  pleasures,  or  thy  numerous  victims  expiring  in  tor- 
tures ;  this  is  a  problem  which  historians  have  left  unsolved. 

A  divine  hand  has  mingled  pain  and  pleasure. — Sadness 
lies  beneath  our  joys,f  and  according  to  the  expression  of 
Montaigne — pleasure  consumes  us.  J 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

WHY    CAN    WE    NOT    BE    HAPPY    IN    THIS   WORLD  ? 

EVERY  good  that  the  earth  offers  us  has  three  defects,  which 
render  it  radically  powerless  to  bless  mankind.  It  is  limited, 
and  can  only  be  possessed  by  a  few.  It  is  empty,  and  has 

*  Eo  quod  in  multa  sapientia,  multa  sit  indignatio:  et  qui  addit 
scientiam,  addit  et  laborem.  (Eccle.  i.  18. 

t  Extrema  gaudii  luctus  occupat.  (Prov.  xiv.  13.) 
J  Essai,  torn.  xi.  ch.  20. 


56  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

never  satisfied  any  one.  It  is  of  so  short  duration,  that  it  is 
unworthy  to  excite  any  attachment. 

I.  It  is  limited.  Since  God  has  bestowed  in  equal  measure 
the  desire  lor  happiness,  his  will  is,  that  we  should  all  enjoy 
it  equally,  and  it  can  only  be  our  own  deeds  which  can  abolish 
or  diminish  our  claims  to  this  divine  inheritance.  What,  how- 
ever, is  more  unequal,  what  more  capricious,  than  the  division 
of  the  goods  of  this  life  ?  What  is  the  crime  of  that  infant 
born  in  the  lowest  degree  of  abjectness  and  misery  ?  What 
is  the  merit  of  another,  whose  cradle  is  surrounded  by  riches 
and  honors  ?  To  place  happiness  in  honor,  wealth,  and  plea- 
sure, is  to  deprive  our  Father  in  Heaven  of  his  divinest  attri- 
bute, impartiality ;  it  is  to  leave  the  inheritance  of  despair  to 
the  immense  majority  of  his  children,  who  are  condemned  to 
vegetate  in  the  midst  of  privations,  and  descend  unnoticed 
into  the  tomb. 

Is  it  said  that  man,  and  not  God,  is  the  author  of  this  in- 
equality of  conditions.  Let  us  suppose  this  to  be  as  true,  as 
it  really  is  false ;  *  will  you  correct  men  ?  Will  you  make 
all,  the  nimble  and  the  maimed,  agree  to  move  on  abreast  to- 
wards the  altar  of  fortune  ?  Will  you  oblige  the  blind  goddess 
to  cast  an  equal  lot  to  each  of  them?  Will  you  induce  that 
skilful  speculator  to  renounce  his  daily  profit  of  some  thous- 
and francs,  because  the  day-wages  of  his  neighbor  the  cob- 
bler do  not  exceed  eighty  sous ;  or  could  you  persuade  him 
to  share  his  superfluity  with  all  the  scissors  grinders  in  the 

*  Nothing,  in  fact,  could  be  more  false.  The  inequality  of  conditions 
is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the  very  great  inequality  of  physical 
and  moral  power  among  men.  Now  this  last  has  all  the  appearance  of 
a  providential  fact.  Yes,  it  is  God  who  has  made  the  small  and  the 
great  (Sap.  vi.  8.)  the  author  of  Paroles  d'un  croyant  has  ventured 
to  affirm  the  contrary ;  "  God  has  made  neither  small  nor  great "  (ch.  vii) : 
he  has  also  suffered  the  fate  of  all  those  who  have  dared  to  lift  their 
foot  against  eternal  truth ;  he  has  plunged  into  the  depths  of  the  mire 
of  folly,  and  has  been  groping  therein  for  the  last  ten  years. 


WHY    CAN    WE    NOT    BE    HAPPY?  57 

kingdom.  You  appeal  to  force ;  but  do  you  believe  that  the 
proletary  to  whom  you  give  arms  against  the  rich,  will  con- 
fine himself,  in  the  pillage  of  the  conquered  camp,  to  his 
rightful  share,  which  is,  according  to  your  decision,  the  thirty- 
three  millionth  part  of  the  capital  of  France  ?  We  leave  to 
Saint  Simon,  La  Mennais,  and  other  hair-brained  persons  of 
the  same  class,  these  magnificent  absurdities. 

II.  It  is  visionary.  Let  us  imagine  that  a  celestial  ambas- 
sador, charged  with  the  government  of  the  world,  should 
come*  to  fulfil  in  the  midst  of  us  the  wishes  of  St.  Simon. 
By  successful  industrial  reforms,  he  should  diminish  half  the 
labor,  and  double  the  amount  of  products.  Abundance  would 
prevail  throughout  the  earth.  We  should  have  no  more  poor 
people  ;  but  should  we  have  happy  ones  ?  Ask  every  ancient 
and  modern  Croesus,  on  whom  fortune  has  showered  more 
honors,  riches  and  pleasures,  than  any  of  us  could  claim  in  a 
less  partial  distribution  of  the  terrestrial  treasure.  Look  at 
their  countenances,  is  it  there  that  happiness  is  wont  to  diffuse 
its  purest  joys,  its  sweetest  serenity  ? 

The  communists  all  commence  with  that  noble  definition  of 
man  that  a  famous  animal  has  given  us :  Man  is  a  digestive 
tube,  (Cabanis) ;  afterwards  calculating  the  produce  of  six 
millions  of  square  leagues,  they  find  alimentary  matter  enough 
to  fill  a  thousand  millions  of  digestive  tubes.  Unfortunately 
this  definition  is  very  incomplete.  By  the  side  of  the  digestive 
faculty,  there  is,  in  the  tube,  another  faculty  much  more 
exacting,  the  heart.  If  a  small  morsel  of  bread  is  sufficient 
to  impose  silence  on  the  most  greedy  stomach,  the  whole 
world  does  not  contain  enough  to  pacify  the  appetite  of  its 
neighbor. 

No,  it  is  not  with  a  few  roods  of  earth  that  the  immense 
gulf  of  human  desires  can  be  filled.  Of  all  the  demons  that 
torment  our  race,  the  demon  of  hunger  is  incontestibly  the 
least  common,  and  the  least  cruel.  Is  the  proof  needed? 


58  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Among   a   hundred  unhappy  persons  who  commit  suicide, 
hardly  one  starving  person  will  be  found. 

III.  It  is  transitory.  If  man  could  establish  true  happiness 
here  below,  would  he  long  enjoy  it  ?  What  is  this  life,  then, 
in  which  it  is  proposed  that  I  should  find  time  to  be  happy? 
It  consists,  it  can  only  consist  of  the  present  moment ;  it  is 
that  mathematical,  evanescent  point  of  time,  that  separates 
the  past,  which  is  no  longer  in  our  power,  from  the  future, 
whose  enjoyment  nothing  can  guarantee  to  us.  It  is  less,  than 
a  moment,  less  than  a  second ;  for  of  the  sixty  minute  por- 
tions which  compose  a  second,  fifty-nine  belong  to  the  past 
or  the  future.  And  it  is  on  this  needle's  point,  under  the 
scythe  of  death,  which  is  always  threatening  us,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  awful  mysteries,  which  universal  belief  leads  us  to 
see  beyond  the  tomb,  that  we  are  commanded  to  be  happy ! 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

IN  ONE  WAY  OR   ANOTHER,    THERE    MUST  BE  A  LIFE   TO  COME. 
t 

LET  it  be  acknowledged  then,  that  if,  after  the  existence 
of  the  Creator,  there  is  a  truth  demonstrable  to  the  mind  and 
the  heart,  it  is,  that  in  the  divine  plan  the  actual  world  is  only 
the  cradle  of  man,  the  place  of  education  and  trial,  where, 
during  his  short  appearance,  he  must  prepare  for  the  great 
part  which  God  has  designed  for  him  in  a  superior  world. 

To  deprive  man  of  this  belief,  to  limit  his  destiny  to  the 
sixty  or  eighty  years  that  are  allotted  him  to  vegetate  on  this 
miserable  planet,  is  to  shock  all  the  perceptions  of  his  intel- 
lect, overlook  the  most  powerful  tendencies  of  his  heart,  and 
offer  violence  to  the  convictions  of  the  human  race,  which,  in 
all  periods,  under  all  latitudes,  in  all  degrees  of  civilization 


THERE    MUST    BE    A    LIFE    TO    COME.  59 

and  barbarism,  has  never  ceased  to  proclaim  the  existence  of 
an  eternal  abode  beyond  the  narrow  passage  of  the  tomb. 
Let  us  name  this  abode  as  we  may,  Elysian  fields,  Paradise 
or  Heaven,  it  is  the  same.  We  cannot  deny  its  existence 
without  denying  God,  without  denying  man,  without  showing 
that  we  are  far  sunk  in  brutality. 

But  in  what  does  this  happy  immortal  life  consist,  which 
all  religious  traditions  promise  to  the  good  man  on  quitting 
his  terrestrial  career. 

Read  the  interminable  descriptions  of  it  which  the  mythol- 
ogies of  different  nations  give  us,  from  the  Vedas  of  India  to 
the  less  foolish  and  filthy  pages  of  the  Koran.  Everywhere 
the  child  man  is  seen  occupied  in  constructing  for  himself  a 
paradise,  adapted  to  his  ignorance  and  corruption,  and  judg- 
ing of  his  future  life  as  a  child  of  three  years  old,  judges  of 
the  present. 

The  Christian  revelation,  on  the  contrary,  setting  aside 
these  foolish  creations  of  a  sensual  imagination,  warns  us  at 
first  that  the  joys  of  the  Celestial  City  are  above  all  the 
thoughts  of  our  minds,  the  feelings  of  our  hearts,  and  the 
vain  discourse  of  man.* 

It  guards  us  against  the  fear  that  heaven  resembles  earth  in 
some  small  degree.  Consequently,  at  the  outset,  biblical 
writers  decline  describing  to  us  in  detail  the  state  of  the  bles- 
sed. Notwithstanding  this  very  remarkable  moderation  with 
regard  to  a  subject,  which  so  often  falls  under  their  pen,  and 
which  is  so  tempting  to  the  imagination,  they  do  not  omit  to 
give  us  brilliant  hints  concerning  our  future  existence ;  and 
these  hints  harmonize  so  completely  with  the  demands  of  our 
heart,  that  we  are  led  directly  to  the  following  result :  If  all 
religions  have  a  presentiment  of  the  future  state  of  man, 
Christianity  alone  has  truly  a  knowledge  of  it,  because,  it  is 
the  only  one  whose  mission  is  to  conduct  us  thither. 
*  I.  Cor.  ii.  9. 


60  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

THE    FUTURE    STATE    OF   MAN,   ACCORDING   TO   CHRISTIANITY. 

WHAT  is  this  future  ?  It  is  the  possession  and  enjoyment 
of  God  himself.*  Can  a  richer  satisfaction  be  offered  to  the 
insatiable  desires  of  the  human  heart ! 

In  fact,  what  does  this  heart  demand  ?  We  have  before 
answered,  three  things  :  perfect  knowledge,  unlimited  power, 
complete  enjoyment. 

I.  Knowledge. — If,  according  to  the  expression   of  scrip- 
ture, our  intellect  should  see  the  light  in  the  divine  light,  f 
would  it  not  be  sufficiently  enlightened  ?     If  we  should  know 
God  as  we  are  known,J  what  would  remain  for  us  to  know  ? 
If  God  himself  is  not  weary  of  admiring  his  infinite  perfec- 
tions, and  the  magnificence  of  his  works,§  would  not  the 
human  mind,  admitted  to  a  share  in  such  a  spectacle,  find  a 
subject  of  delicious  and  eternal  contemplation  ? 

II.  Power. — Heaven  is  everywhere  described  as  a  throne, 
as  a  kingdom  which  has  been  prepared  for  us  from  the  be- 
ginning.||     What  is  this  throne? — that  of  the  Most  High.lF 
What  is  this  kingdom  ? — that  of  God  himself,  that  of  the  Son 
of  man,  to  whom  all  power  has  been  given  in  heaven,  earth, 
and  hell ;  for,  we  are  the  heirs  of  God  and  joint  heirs  of  Jesus 
Christ.** 

To  be  elevated  to  the  height  where  God  is,  to  govern  with 

*  Ego  .  .  .  merces  tua  magna  nimis.  (Genes,  xvi.  1.)  ParsmeaDeus 
in  sternum.  (Ps.  Ixxii.  26.) 

f  In  lumine  tuo  videbimus  lumen.  (Ps.  xxxv.  10.) 
J  Tune  autem  cognoscam  sicut  et  cognitus  sum.  (I.  Cor.  xiii.  12.) 
§  Lajtabitur  Dominus  in  operibus  suit.  (Ps.  ciii.  51.) 
||  St.  Matth.  xxv.  34. 

\  Qui  dicerit;  dabo  ei  sedere  mecum  in  throne  meo.  (Apoc.  iii.  21.) 
*  Hseredes  quidem  Dei,  cohceredes  autem  Christo.  (Rom.  viii.  17.) 


THE    FUTURE    STATE    OF    MAN.  61 

him  the  immensity  of  worlds,  to  preside  over  the  destiny  of 
nations  and  decide  their  fate,*  is  not  this  a  sufficiently  ele- 
vated part  to  fill,  and  is  there  not  enough  in  it  to  satisfy  the 
most  unbridled  ambition  ? 

III.  Enjoyment. — Certainly,  if  there  is  anywhere  true  en- 
joyment, pleasures  made  to  satisfy  the  heart  without  falling 
upon  it,  they  are  the  pleasures,  the  delights  that  God  enjoys. 
But  he  wishes  to  share  these  ineffable  delights  with  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  he  wishes  them  to  intoxicate  themselves  at  that 
fountain  of  joy  where  he  himself  drinks. 

I  would  ask  the  most  fastidious  of  voluptuaries,  is  it  to  be 
apprehended  that  there  can  be  weariness  at  the  banquets 
which  the  divine  architect  of  worlds  arranges,  and  which 
have  been  preparing  from  the  beginning  of  time ! 

Notwithstanding  the  great  pretentions  of  our  pride,  we 
have  a  much  too  low  idea  of  ourselves.  Accustomed  to 
judge  of  the  excellence  of  our  nature  only  by  the  gross 
envelope  that  incloses  it,  we  scarcely  suspect  the  infinite 
distance  that  separates  us  from  merely  physical  beings.  If 
we  were  more  attentive  to  the  operations  of  the  spirit,  if  we 
measured  the  steps  which  this  internal  giant  makes  even  in 
this  life,  we  should  comprehend  that  the  lowest  intellect  is 
incomparably  greater  than  the  material  universe ;  J  perhaps 
also  we  should  form  an  idea  of  the  prodigious  development 
which  the  presence  of  the  Infinite  will  produce  throughout 
our  being.  Let  us  endeavor  to  give  a  sketch  of  it. 

*  Fulgebunt  justi,  et  tanquam  scintilla;  in  arundineto  discurrent. 
Judicabunt  nationes,  et  dominabuntur  populis.  (Sap.  iii.  7,  8.) 

f  Inebriabuntur  ab  ubertate  domus  tua?,  et  torrente  voluptatis  tuae 
potabis  eos.  (Ps.  xxxv.  9. 

\  There  is  no  mind  so  ordinary  but  it  has  the  knowledge  to  some  ex- 
tent of  material  existences  and  can  judge  of  them ;  but  it  never  can  be 
known  nor  judged  by  them.  This,  I  believe  is  the  reflection  of  St 
Augustine. 

6 


62  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Let  us  recall  the  state  of  our  intellect  at  the  period  when 
thought  was  beginning  to  dawn  through  the  cloud  of  sensa- 
tions. What  idea  had  we  then  of  our  globe  and  of  the  innu- 
merable worlds  in  the  midst  of  which  it  appears  as  a  point  ? 
Is  it  not  true  that  the  sphere  of  our  thoughts  was  limited  to 
a  few  hundred  feet.  Now  that  liberal  and  varied  instruction, 
seconded  by  reflection,  has  given  us  access  to  the  repositories 
of  human  knowledge,  the  range  of  our  thoughts  has  increased 
by  some  thousands  of  leagues,  and  a  second  is  sufficient  for  us 
to  traverse  in  spirit,  distances  which  escape  all  calculation.  In 
metaphysical  and  moral  studies  the  introduction  of  one  new 
and  fruitful  idea  alone  is  sufficient  to  extend  suddenly  the 
circle  of  our  thoughts,  and  make  us  blush  at  the  weakness 
of  our  preceding  conceptions. 

Now  if  the  feeble  rays  of  truth  diffused  through  this  world 
of  darkness  expand  so  astonishingly  the  mind  which  is  occu- 
pied in  collecting  them,  who  is  able  to  conceive  the  expansion 
of  that  mind,  when  infinite,  unbounded  truth  shall  be  mani- 
fested to  it,  without  a  veil;  without  a  cloud! 

But  how  will  the  heart  be  affected  ? 

If  there  is  anything  in  the  world  which  the  heart  craves  it 
is  beauty.  History  is  full  of  the  extravagances  and  crimes 
caused  by  this  most  violent  of  passions. 

Let  us  imagine  a  creature  uniting  in  its  physical  form  all 
the  graces  which  the  chisel  of  Phidias  and  Praxiteles,  or  the 
pencil  of  Raphael  could  have  embodied.  Let  us  bestow  on 
this  body  the  most  expanded  and  superior  intellect,  the  most 
generous  and  tender  heart.  Let  us  add  to  the  charms  of 
physical  and  moral  beauty  those  of  birth  and  rank ;  in  fact 
we  give  a  sovereign  to  the  world.  Let  her  command  prodi- 
gies, she  will  be  obeyed.  Let  her  promise  her  hand  to  the 
bravest,  millions  of  men  would  sacrifice  themselves  at  her 
feet. 

If  the  heart  then  is  so  violently  agitated  by  an  earthly 


THE    FUTURE    STATE    OF    MAN.  63 

form,  what  will  it  experience  when  it  is  admitted  into  the 
presence  of  the  Creator,  of  innumerable  forms  of  beauty 
lavished  with  divine  prodigality  throughout  the  vast  extent  of 
the  earth  and  heavens !  If  an  idol  of  animated  clay,  coming 
forth  but  yesterday  in  its  ugliness  from  the  womb  of  its 
mother,  and  which  death  to-morrow  will  sweep  into  the  filth 
of  the  tomb,  excites  such  love,  how  will  it  be  with  that  rav- 
ishing beauty,  engendered  in  the  splendors  of  glory,  before 
the  morning  star,*  and  whose  eternally  blooming  youth  is 
protected  from  the  injuries  of  time !  Beauty  which  unites  to 
the  inexhaustible  treasures  of  genius  and  science,  the  majesty 
of  an  unlimited  power ;  a  beauty  whose  tenderness  for  man 
surpasses  all  thought !f  Who  can  describe  the  glow  of 
the  human  heart  in  contact  with  this  burning  concentrated 
fire  of  love !  Who  can  measure  its  wonderful  expansion, 
when  folded  in  the  arms  of  infinite  tenderness  it  hears  the 
words  ;  "  Come  my  well-beloved,  I  am  thine  forever ! " 

Let  us  finish  in  the  profound  language  of  the  apostle  of 
charity  ;  "  My  well-beloved,  we  are  already  the  sons  of  God ; 
but  our  future  'glory  is  yet  a  mystery ;  but  we  know  that 
when  God  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like  him  ;  for  we  shall 

see  hi?n  as  he  is."$ 

*  Ps.  cix.  3. 

f  This  is  a  very  simple  reflection  made  by  the  wisest  of  men  nearly 
three  thousand  years  ago.  Quorum  si  specie  delectati,  deos  putave- 
runt :  sciant  quanto  his  dominator  eorum  speciosior  est.  Speciei  enim 
generator  haec  omnia  constituit.  (Sap.  xiu.  3.)  Blind  worshippers  of 
the  idols  of  this  world,  is  it  then  so  difficult  to  comprehend  that  the 
charms  which  attract  you  in  the  creature  must  be  found  in  a  far  higher 
degree  in  him  who  has  given  it  being !  Do  you  prefer  the  evanescent 
and  degrading  pleasures  that  a  dying  body  affords  you,  to  the  imperish- 
able joys  which  await  you  in  the  bosom  of  the  Divinity  ?  Is  not  this 
madness  ?  What  would  you  think  of  the  youth,  who,  invited  by  the 
most  consummate  of  beauties  to  sit  with  her  on  the  first  of  thrones, 
should  go  to  solicit,  in  a  vile  dwelling  the  horny  hand  of  an  octogen- 
arian ?  His  folly,  however,  would  be  wisdom,  compared  to  yours. 

J  I.  John.  iii.  2. 


64  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

PARALLEL    OF    CHRISTIAN    PROGRESS    WITH    PHILOSOPHIC 
PROGRESS. 

FRIENDS  of  progress,  advocates  of  indefinite  perfectibility, 
what  think  you  ?  Is  not  the  aim  which  Christianity  assigns 
to  our  species  sufficiently  noble?  Does  not  that  progress 
appear  to  you  sufficiently  great  and  rapid,  which  in  a  few 
years  raises  a  being  from  the  depths  of  nothingness,  to  the 
heights  of  divine  perfection. 

Compare  with  this  progress  that  which  you  propose  to 
substitute  for  it,  and  whose  definition  you  vainly  attempt. 
Show  us  its  direction,  its  aim.  What  would  you  substitute 
for  heaven  ? 

You  require  centuries  to  put  the  humanitary  movement  in 
operation !  But  to  demand  ages  for  human  beings  whose 
ordinary  life  does  not  exceed  thirty-five  years,  is  folly  or 
mockery. — Explain  yourselves  frankly,  do  you  believe  that 
our  personality,  our  individual  self,  escapes  the  shipwreck  of 
death  ?  If  it  is  so,  tell  us  how,  having  once  left  this  globe, 
we  shall  enjoy  the  fruits  of  this  social  perfection,  for  which 
you  would  have  us  sacrifice  our  existence. — My  question 
calls  forth  your  compassion,  I  perceive.  In  your  sublime 
theories  humanity  is  everything,  the  individual  nothing  ;  our 
personality  is  only  a  temporary  form  which  will  soon  vanish 
in  the  ocean  of  being. — But  tell  me  then,  when  you  and  I 
and  all  mortals  have  lost  our  existence  by  losing  our  individu- 
ality, what  will  become  of  humanity  ? 

You  who  build  even-thing  out  of  nothing,  take  the  pen, 
increase  ciphers  at  your  pleasure,  then  add  them  and  see  if 
you  can  give  us  a  million.*  At  least  acknowledge  that  Christi- 

*  Moreover,  these  progressive  gentlemen  inust  not  be  too  much  dis- 


CHRISTIAN    AND    PHILOSOPHIC    PROGRESS.  G5 

anity  shows  itself  less  stern,  less  discouraging  to  the  individ- 
ual, and  that  by  laboring  to  save  men  one  by  one,  it  under- 
stands a  little  better  than  you  the  happiness  of  humanity. 

To  develope  a  great  energy  of  action,  to  hasten  the  pro- 
gress of  society,  as  much  as  possible,  to  leave  an  imperish- 
able name  in  the  memory  of  his  fellow  men,  is,  according  to 
your  ideas,  the  destiny  of  man,  and  his  whole  future.  But 
what  would  become  of  society  if,  to  escape  the  punishment 
of  oblivion,  every  one  took  it  into  his  head  to  enact  the  great 
man !  Who  will  make  our  bread,  shoes,  garments,  hats,  and 
all  those  trifling  articles  without  which  heroes  themselves 
would  make  but  a  sorry  figure  ! 

Another  inconvenience:  human  glory  is  so  much  diminished 
by  division,  that  by  giving  each  man  a  share,  it  would  be 
reduced  to  nothing.  Great  names  like  great  mountains,  rise 
only  by  the  depression  of  every  thing  that  is  around  them. 
The  elect  of  the  first  class,  as  Cyrus,  Alexander,  Caesar  and 
Napoleon,  appear  only  at  the  distances  of  several  ages  from 
each  other.  Put  two  or  three  of  them  abreast,  and  the  world 
would  be  reduced  to  powder. 

Do  you  in  truth  offer  to  our  heart,  so  eager  for  real  joys, 
the  prospect  of  the  idle  babbling  of  posterity  around  the  dust 
of  our  tombs !  Napoleon,  who  had  employed  the  arms  of 
Europe  for  nearly  twenty  years,  in  erecting  for  him  a  temple 
of  terrestrial  immortality,  had  no  sooner  cast  his  eagle  glance 
upon  it,  during  the  leisure  of  his  captivity,  than  he  withdrew 
it  in  disgust,  and  summoned  a  priest  to  point  out  to  him  the 
path  to  the  Christian  heaven. 

Let  it  be  acknowledged,  Christianity  is  more  successful  than 
you,  in  reconciling  the  interests  of  human  society  with  the 
eternal  interests  of  the  individual.  It  shocks  the  ardor  of 

trusted.  Since  they  have  found  humanity  without  men,  they  may  be 
able  to  find  a  million,  without  a  thousand  times  a  thousand  times  one. 
To  such  very  dexterous  persons  we  have  nothing  to  answer. 

6* 


66  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ambition  by  promising  the  first  honors  of  the  celestial  city, 
not  to  brilliant  achievements,  but  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
will  of  our  heavenly  Father  in  the  post  assigned  to  each,  and 
it  does  not  permit  any  one  to  abandon  it.*  Thus  sovereigns 
and  subjects,  great  and  small,  rich  and  poor,  masters  and  ser- 
vants, are  all  admitted  to  the  competition  for  future  honors, 
and  if  any  chances  are  more  favorable  than  others,  they  are 
for  those  among  us  who  shall  have  shown  themselves  here 
below  most  modest,  most  beneficent,  most  disinterested. 

In  a  word,  the  assembly  to  which  Christianity  invites  us,  is 
large  enough  to  permit  every  one  to  be  at  his  ease,  and  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Divinity,  envy  will  never  utter  these  words — 
"  Begone,  that  I  may  take  your  place."  f 

We  may  say  then,  without  fearing  contradiction,  that  Chris- 
tianity alone  has  pointed  out  to  man  his  true  end. 

Let  us  see  now  if  it  has  shown  itself  as  successful,  consis- 
tent, and  rational  in  the  choice  of  means,  by  which  it  directs 
him  to  attain  it. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

HARMONY   OF   EVANGELICAL   MORALITY   WITH   MAN'S    FUTURE 
CONDITION. 

"  IF  thou  wilt  enter  into  life,"  said  Jesus  Christ,  "  keep  the 
commandments." 

What  commandments? — "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy 

*  Unusquisque  in  qua  vocatione  vocatus  est,  in  ea  permaneat.  (  I. 
Cor:  vii.  20.) 

t  The  following  is  the  beautiful  and  profound  reflection  of  St.  Agus- 
tine:  Habemus  igitur  qua  (Veritas  summa)  fruamur  omnes  aequaliter 
atque  communiter :  nullae  sunt  angustiae,  nullus  in  ea  defectus.  Omnes 
amatores  suos  nullo  modo  sibi  invitos  recipit,  et  omnibus  communis  est, 


MAN'S  FUTURE  CONDITION.  G7 


God  with  thy  whole  heart,  and  with  thy  whole  soul,  and  with 
thy  whole  mind.  This  is  the  greatest  and  the  first  command- 
ment." And  the  second  is  like  to  this  :  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."* 

What  more  just !  Since  we  are  destined  to  live  eternally 
in  the  society  of  the  Lord  our  God,  how  should  we  employ 
the  present  life,  which  is  the  novitiate  of  eternity,  if  not  in 
making  progress  in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  him  ?  Since 
the  will  of  our  heavenly  Father  is,  that  the  children  of  men 
should  all  taste  in  his  bosom  the  joys  of  a  perfect  fraternity  ,-j- 
is  it  not  natural  that  they  should  habituate  themselves  here 
below  to  have  but  one  heart  and  one  soul  ?  | 

"  On  these  two  commandments  hang  the  whole  law  and 
the  prophets."  § 

In  fact,  it  is  the  love  of  God  which  commands  us  to  honor 
his  holy  name,  and  avoid  in  our  thoughts,  words,  and  actions, 
everything  which  might  wound  the  respect  which  is  due  to 
him.  (Second  commandment :  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name 
of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain,  &c.) 

It  is  the  love  of  God  that  leads  us  to  sanctify  the  day  which 
he  has  reserved  to  himself  from  the  seven  days  of  the  week, 
by  employing  it  in  worshipping  him,  laying  before  him  our 
wants,  recalling  to  our  minds  the  blessings  we  have  received 
from  him,  blessings  greater  than  we  had  looked  for.  (Third 
commandment :  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep  it 
holy,  &c.) 

It  is  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbor  which  demands 

et  singulis  casta  est.  Nemo  alicui  dicit :  Recede,  ut  etiam  ego  acce- 
dam :  remove  manus,  ut  etiam  ego  amplectar.  Omnes  inhaerent,  ipsam 
omnes  tangunt.  Cibus  ejus  nulla  ex  parte  discerpitur :  nihil  de  ipsa. 
bibis  quod  ego  non  possim.  (De  Lib.  arbit.  lib.  11,  cap.  14.) 

*  Matth.  xix.  17. — xxii.  34,  seqq. 

t  Egoineis,  ettuin  me,  utsintconsummatiinunum.  (John  xvii.  23.) 

J  Act.  iv.  32. 

§  Matth.  xxii.  46. 


68  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

that,  of  all  the  race,  we  should  love  and  honor  most  those 
whom  our  common  Father  has  made  use  of,  to  bring  us  into 
being,  and  enable  us  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  social  life. 
(Fourth  commandment:  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother, 
dec.) 

It  is  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbor  that  obliges  us  to 
regard  all  men  as  children  of  God,  as  our  brothers,  and  to 
abstain  from  everything  which  could  injure  their  soul  or  body. 
(Fifth  commandment :  Thou  shalt  not  kill,  &c.) 

It  is  the  love  of  God  and  of  ourselves,  that  requires  us  to 
respect  our  soul,  created  in  the  divine  likeness,  and  destined 
to  the  enjoyment  of  a  superior  order,  so  highly,  that  we  must 
deny  it,  with  the  divinely  established  exception,  the  pleasures 
which  would  degrade  it  to  a  level  with  the  brute.  (Sixth  and 
ninth  commandments.) 

It  is  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbor  which  requires 
us  to  aspire  exclusively  after  the  treasures  of  heaven,  and 
keep  our  hearts  and  hands  from  the  temporal  goods  which 
Providence  has  allotted  to  our  brethren.  (Seventh  and  tenth 
commandments :  Thou  shalt  not  steal,  &c.  Thou  shalt  not 
covet,  &c.) 

Finally,  it  is  the  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbor  which 
forbids  us  to  violate  the  truth,  or  wound  our  brethren,  in  our 
thoughts,  words  or  actions.  (Eighth  commandment:  Thou 
shalt  not  bear  false  witness,  &c.) 

But  it  was  not  enough  to  show  man  the  way  of  life,  it  Avas 
necessary  to  reveal  to  him  also  the  germ  of  death  which  he 
bears  within  him,  and  apply  the  remedy  to  it 


CORRUPTION    OF    MAN.  69 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

DOCTRINE    OF    CHRISTIANITY    CONCERNING    THE    ORIGINAL 
CORRUPTION    OF    MAN,    EASILY   JUSTIFIED. 

THAT  man  is  vicious,  corrupt  and  misguided,  that  he  finds 
every  day  in  the  base  inclinations  of  his  heart,  the  traces  of 
deep  degradation,  is  a  fact  established  by  our  own  conscious- 
ness  and  by  universal  belief.  "  The  fall  of  degenerate  man," 
as  the  greatest  enemy  of  Christianity  has  said,  "  is  the  foun- 
dation of  the  theology  of  all  the  ancient  nations."  * 

The  most  celebrated  philosophers  of  antiquity  have  recog- 
nized it.  Some,  to  explain  the  punishment  of  our  birth,f  have 
had  recourse  to  crime  committed  by  our  souls  in  a  pre-existent 
state.  |  Others,  accepting  the  universal  tradition,  have  de- 
clared that  the  human  race  became  corrupt  in  its  head.§ 

Now  this  extremely  important  fact,  concerning  which  pagan 
traditions  and  philosophy  have  only  given  us  fables  or  opinions, 
Christianity  alone  presents  in  a  light  more  satisfying  to  reason, 
when,  on  the  third  page  of  the  history  of  the  primitive  times, 
it  shows  us  the  representatives  of  humanity  violating  the  law 
of  the  creator,  and  corrupting  in  themselves  that  nature  which 
they  were  to  transmit  to  us. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  justify  here  the  history  of  the  fall  of 
the  first  man,  recorded  by  Moses  in  the  third  chapter  of  Gene- 
sis. This  narration  justifies  itself  sufficiently,  in  the  eyes  of 
every  judicious  critic,  by  its  great  simplicity  and  by  the  cor- 

*  Voltaire,  Questions  sur  V Encyclopedic. 

t  Animal  cseteris  imperaturum  a  suppliciis  vitam  auspicatur,  unam 
tantum  ob  culpam  quia  natum  est.  (Plin.  Hist,  natur.  lib.  vn.) 

f  Ob  aliqua  scelera  suscepta  in  vita  superiore  psenarum  luendarum 
causa  nos  esse  natos  (Cicero,  in  Hortensio,  apud  August,  cont.  Julian. 
lib.  iv.) 

§  Plato,  in  Timeo,  in  Politic,  &c. 


70  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

responding  testimony  of  till  nations;  for  ;ill  have  related  this 
fatal  event  in  their  own  way,  and  almost  always  with  its  most 
extraordinary  circumstance,  the  intervention  of  the  serpent.* 
I  would  only  observe  that  this  page  of  the  sacred  writer 
contains  evidently,  in  germ,  the  whole  Bible.  It  cannot  be 
rejected  without  entirely  overthrowing  the  theoretical  and 
historical  system  of  Christianity.  Now  we  will  examine  if  it 
is  possible,  for  reason  to  dispute  the  historical  truth  of  Christi- 
anity. 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  refute  in  detail  the  objections  of 
the  skeptic  against  original  sin.  A  few  words  will  suffice  to 
dispel  those  sophisms,  which  have  their  rise  in  ignorance  of 
the  true  doctrine  of  the  Church,  on  this  leading  article  of  its 
faith. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  asked,  how  man  can  sin  before  he 
comes  into  being ;  how  can  an  infinitely  just  God  impute  to  a 
child  born  yesterday,  a  crime  committed  six  thousand  years 
ago,  and  in  which  his  will  has  necessarily  no  part. 

It  has  been  constantly  answered  to  this,  that  original  sin 
must  not  be  confounded  with  actual  sin ;  that  the  former  does 
not  exist  in  us,  as  the  latter,  by  a  free  and  personal  violation 
of  the  divine  law,  but  being  inherent  in  human  nature,  as  it 
was  included  in  the  first  man,  it  has  been  transmitted  to  us 
with  that,  by  the  fact  of  our  descent  from  Adam. 

To  reconcile  this  mystery  with  our  reason,  so  far  as  is  per- 
mitted to  our  ignorance,  it  is  sufficient  to  establish  thoroughly 
the  two  following  principles. 

I.  The  first  man  by  sin  is  placed  in  a  state  of  death.  As 
he  had  life  only  by  his  union  with  God,  he  could  not  rebel 

*  Nothjng  is  better  known  than  the  malignant  character  of  the  ser- 
pent in  the  mythologies  of  almost  all  nations.  Humboldt,  in  his  Vue 
des  Cordilieres,  shows  us  the  ancient  Mexicans  representing  the  evil 
genius  under  the  figure  of  the  serpent,  conversing  with  the  mother  of 
mankind,  &c.  torn.  i.  p.  235. 


CORRUPTION    OF    MAN.  71 

against  him  without  inflicting  death  upon  himself,  which  is  the 
wages  of  siii.* 

His  intellect  separated  from  the  primal  truth,  was  covered 
with  darkness ;  his  will,  opposed  to  the  love  of  supreme 
beauty,  became  the  sport  of  the  vilest  appetites ;  his  superior 
faculties,  struck  powerless,  lost  in  part  at  least,  their  empire 
over  his  organization ;  and  material  nature,  to  revenge  the 
outrage  committed  against  its  sovereign,  refused  to  obey  the 
felon.  In  a  word,  spiritual  death,  by  the  fatal  divorce  of  the 
soul  from  God;  corporal  death,  by  the  tendency  of  the  body 
to  separate  itself  from  the  soul ;  external  sufferings  from  the 
insubordination  of  nature ;  such  must  be  the  consequence  of 
sin,  and  the  realization  of  the  threat  of  the  Creator :  "  The 
day  on  which  tho.u  eatest  this  fruit  thou  shalt  surely  die."f 

II.  The  child  is  like  its  parent.  Let  us  suppose  that  in  this 
deplorable  state  Adam  had  reproduced  himself;  is  it  not 
natural  to  believe  that  he  would  have  communicated  to  his 
children  what  he  possessed  himself,  that  is  to  say  a  nature 
subverted^  corrupted,  struck  with  death?  How  could  it  be 
otherwise  ?  Could  death  engender  life  ? 

It  is  then  false  that  we  have  sinnecf  before  coming  into 
being ;  for  we  were  in  Adam  by  our  nature,  and  it  is  by  our 
nature,  and  not  by  an  act  of  our  own  will,  that  we  are  at 
birth  "children  of  wrath."  J  It  is  then  without  injustice  that 
God  detests  in  us  what  he  finds  in  us,  a  soul  brutalized  by 
ignoble  inclinations,  in  which  he  can  recognize  neither  his 
workmanship  nor  his  likeness.  Is  it  not  true  that  we  are  all 
born  with  a  certain  aversion  to  God,  that  is  to  say,  disposed 
to  love  everytliing  except  the  infinitely  good  Being  ?  How 
could  God,  who  necessarily  loves  himself  with  an  unbounded 
love,  sympathize  with  us,  until  the  remedy  which  he  has  him- 

*  Stipendia  enim  peccati  mors.  (Rom.  vii.  23.) 

- ..  .. 
f  Genes,  xi.  17.     J  Natura  nlii  irae,  (Ephes.  ii.  3.) 


72  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


bill'  prepared  in  his  mercy,  the  necessity  of  which  all  people 
have  discovered,  has  banished  from  our  souls  that  horrible  de- 
formity !  * 

But,  can  it  be  explained  how  a  supremely  good  Being  con- 
demns to  eternal  flames,  infants  who  have  died  with  a  stain 
which  they  could  neither  avoid  nor  efface  ? 

*  Two  objections  might  be  opposed  to  this  theory  of  original  sin . 
1st. — That,  according  to  our  principles,  every  sin  would  be  capable  of 
transmission  from  parents  to  children,  which  is  contrary  to  Christian 
belief.  2d. — That  the  corruption  of  nature,  or  concupiscence,  remain- 
ing after  baptism,  cannot  be  considered  as  belonging  to  original  sin. 

I  answer  to  the  first  difficulty,  that  the  sin  of  the  first  mar.  having 
struck  the  human  race  with  death,  the  sin  of  his  descendants  cannot 
produce  the  same  effect,  because  a  dead  body  cannot  inflict  death. 
Yet  as  this  death  is  not  total,  every  man  can  aggravate  it  in  himself, 
and  bequeath  to  his  children  more  corruption  than  he  has  received 
from  his  fathers.  Experience  only  confirms  too  well  these  words  of 
the  wise  man  :  "  For  children  begotten  of  unlawful  beds  are  witnesses 
of  wickedness  against  their  parents  in  their  trial."  (Sap.  iv.  C.) 

I  answer  to  the  second  difficulty,  that  I  do  not  make  the  essence  of 
original  sin  to  consist  in  concupiscence,  but  in  the  consent  which  the 
will  gives  to  it.  This  consent  exists  in  the  child  before  baptism,  but  it 
is  involuntary ;  and  hence  the  child,  without  being  personally  guilty, 
is  in  a  state  of  impurity  which  is  revolting  to  the  divine  nature.  In 
baptism,  the  Holy  Spirit  guides  back  the  will  of  the  child  to  God,  by 
the  infusion  of  charity,  and  by  that  banishes  from  the  soul  every  thing 
that  is  displeasing  to  divine  holiness.  If  the  baptised  adult  is  obedient 
to  the  impulses  of  grace,  and  resists  concupiscence,  this  last  so  far  from 
degrading  him,  only  ennobles  him  in  the  eyes  of  God  by  the  victories 
which  it  gives  him  an  opportunity  of  gaining.  Does  he  on  the  con- 
trary yield  to  the  corruption  of  his  inclinations,  sin  revives  in  him,  but 
it  is  no  longer  the  sin  of  nature,  it  is  personal  sin,  it  is  actual,  free, 
voluntary  sin,  and  consequently,  far  more  criminal  and  far  more  deserv- 
ing of  punishment.  It  may  be  answered ;  "  According  to  this  hypothe- 
sis, the  infidel  who  conquers  concupiscence  is  justified,  independently 
of  baptism."  I  answer:  "  Yes,  without  doubt ;  if  that  infidel  reinstated 
his  will  by  an  act  of  perfect  charity,  he  would  be  sanctified  in  that  case 
by  the  baptism  of  desire,  which  above  all  things  is  included  implicitly 
in  the  love  of  God." 


CORRUPTION    OF    MAN.  73 

We  shall  refer  this  question  to  those  dissatisfied  theologians 
who  have  taken  it  upon  themselves  to  add  to  the  gospel.  As 
to  ourselves,  who  have  no  other  rule  of  faith  than  the  Divine 
word,  as  catholic  tradition  has  always  understood  it,  we  can- 
not imagine  how  that  terrible  sentence  of  the  Judge  of  the 
living  and  the  dead :  Go,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  &c. 
For  I  was  hungry  and  ye  gave  me  no  meat,  &c.,  can  be  ap- 
plied to  children  who  have  died  without  baptism.* 

All  that  the  gospel  teaches  us  with  regard  to  their  fate,  is, 
that  the  entrance  of  the  celestial  kingdom  is  forever  prohibited 
to  them.-j-  But  between  the  floods  of  joy  which  God  pours 
forth  over  his  elect,  and  the  torrents  of  inextinguishable  flames 
destined  for  the  obstinate  despisers  of  his  laws,  there  are  in- 
numerable degrees  of  happiness  and  suffering.  Would  you 
choose  a  place  for  the  unfortunate  creatures  of  whom  we  are 
speaking,  and  grant  them  happiness  enough  to  permit  them  to 
regard  existence  as  a  blessing,  and  give  thanks  to  the  God 
of  all  consolation  1  Religion  permits  us  this,  the  ideas  that  it 
gives  us  of  the  divine  benevolence  invite  us  to  it,  and  its 
greatest  teachers  authorize  us  in  it.| 

Will  it  be  asked  again,  Why  God  has  chosen  to  place  the 
destinies  of  all,  in  the  hands  of  one  man  alone  ?  This  is  an 
impertinent  question,  which  would  bring  a  rash  censure  to 
bear  upon  all  the  principles  of  divine  government.  Why  this 
law  of  the  social  world,  which  places  the  existence  of  a  vast 
empire  in  the  hands  of  its  chief?  Why  the  enormous  influ- 
ence of  parents  upon  the  fortunes,  morality,  and  health  of 
their  children  ?  Why  that  law  of  the  physical  order,  which 

*  Matth.  xxv.  41,  42. 

f  Nisi  quis  renatus  fuerit,  &c.  (John  iii.  5.) 

\  See  St.  Jlugustin,  lib.  v.  cont.  Julian,  cap.  2.  De  lib.  arbit.  lib. 
iii.  cap.  23.  St.  Gregor.  J\raz.  oral.  xl.  St.  Gregor.  JVyssen.  orat. 
de  Infant.  St.  Thomas,  in  2,  dist.  33,  qe.  2,  art.  2.  Innocent,  iii. 
cap.  Majores,  de  baptismo,  &c. 

7 


74  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

permits  the  whole  ship's  company  to  perish  through  the  fault 
of  the  pilot? 

If,  as  we  have  said,  it  is  the  design  of  God  to  bind  all  men, 
at  some  future  time,  by  the  ties  of  the  most  perfect  union. 
was  it  not  worthy  of  his  wisdom  to  rescue  them  in  this  life 
from  the  isolation  of  selfishness,  by  establishing  among  them, 
with  community  of  blood,  the  community  of  joys  and  sorrows  ? 

Besides,  at  the  same  time  that  divine  justice  left  us  all  to 
die  in  Adam,  infinite  love  prepared  for  us  in  a  second  father,  a 
life  far  superior  to  that  we  had  lost.  Certainly  it  is  not  per- 
mitted us  to  murmur,  since  we  have  seen  this  humanity,  sunk 
so  low  by  the  crime  of  Eden,  rising  so  high  by  the  redemption 
of  Calvary,  that  it  has  been  seated  for  eighteen  hundred  years 
at  the  right  hand  of  our  heavenly  Father,  and  will  be  seated 
there  forever. 

Let  us  agree  then,  that  Christianity  alone  has  truly  known 
the  origin  of  our  woes ;  has  alone  revealed  to  us  the  nature 
of  them  and  sounded  their  depths. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

NATURE    OF   THE    SIN   OF  THE    FIRST    MAN.       ITS   PERMANENT 

INFLUENCE    ON    THE    LIFE,    BOTH    OF    NATIONS    AND 

INDIVIDUALS. 

SACRED  history  shows  us,  in  the  crime  of  our  first  parents, 
three  very  distinct  crimes. 

I.  An  insane  desire  to  equal  God  in  knowledge,  which  was 
punished  immediately  by  the  discovery  that  they  had  become 
brutes.* 

*  Eritis  sicut  dii,  scientes  bonum  et  malum.  Et  aperti  sunt  oculi 
amborum ;  cumque  cognovissent  se  esse  nudos,  &c.  (Gen.  iii.  5,  7.) 


SIN    OF    THE    FIRST    MAN.  75 

II.  An  unbounded  cupidity  which,  leading  them  to  seize 
upon  the  only  good  that  God  had  reserved  to  himself,  caused 
the  loss  of  the  enjoyment  of  all  others,  and  compelled  them 
to  lead  the  meanest  life.* 

III.  An  unworthy  indulgence  of  the  senses  which,  attracted 
by  the  beauty  of  the  fruit,  demanded  their  gratification  in 
contempt  of  the  prohibitions  of  the  Creator;  and  the  senses 
were  no  sooner  satisfied,  than  the  offenders  were  filled  with 
confusion,  and  obliged  to  hide  themselves. f 

Pride,  avarice,  sensuality,  are  the  three  deep  wounds  which 
the  infernal  serpent  inflicted  upon  humanity ;  wounds  always 
bleeding  in  the  heart,  and  which  always  produce  in  it  the 
same  fruits  of  death,  until  the  efficacious  balm  of  Christ  heals 
them. 

What  is  in  truth  the  history  of  the  human  race,  except  the 
continual  and  faithful  reproduction  of  the  terrible  drama  of 
Eden? 

Their  tastes,  as  simple  and  pure  as  their  thoughts,  make  the 
burden  of  life  sweet  and  light  for  them.  They  go  on  their 
way  singing,  and  what  do  they  sing?  The  Divinity,  whose 
powerful  and  paternal  action  is  revealed  to  their  intelligence, 
in  the  least  phenomena  of  nature,  as  well  as  in  the  magnifi- 
cent spectacle  of  the  heavens. 

To  the  sublime  and  simple  accents  of  a  poetry  entirely  re- 
ligious, insensibly  succeed  the  cold  and  sterile  speculations  of 
a  proud  philosophy.  The  accidental  discovery  of  some  half- 
'truths  violently  excites  the  human  mind.  Pre-occupied  by 

*  Ex  omni  ligno  paradisi  comede ;  de  ligno  autem  scientiae  boni  et 
mali  ne  comedas.  (Gen.  ii.  16, 17.)  Comedes  herbam  terrse.  In  sudore 
vultus  tui  vesceris  pane,  &c.  (iii.  18,  19.) 

t  Vidit  igitur  mulier  quod  bonum  esset  lignum  ad  vescendum,  et 
pulchrum  oculis,  aspectuque  delectabile.  Consuerunt  folia  ficus  et 
fecerunt  sibi  perizomata.  Et  cum  audissent  vocem  Domini  abscondit 
se  Adam,  &c.  (iii.  7,  8.) 


76  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

second  causes  which  strike  its  imagination,  it  loses  sight  of 
the  first  cause,  and  finishes  by  doubting  its  existence.  Thug, 
after  a  few  experiments  in  electricity,  it  believes  that  it  com- 
prehends the  manner  in  which  thunder  and  lightning  are 
formed.  Henceforth  that  majestic  sound,  those  terrific  flashes, 
which  filled  it  with  religious  awe,  are  only  a  natural  pheno- 
menon in  its  eyes,  and  it  feels  compassion  for  those  who  still 
imagine  that  it  is  God  who  thunders. 

Elated  by  this  success,  it  begins  to  measure  the  truths  of 
intellectual  and  moral  order,  and  as  it  cannot  comprehend  any 
of  them,  it  rejects  them  all  in  succession.  At  last,  weary  of 
passing  from  one  error  to  another,  it  falls  from  skepticism, 
into  materialism,  and  the  same  philosophy  which  said  to  it ; 
"  Give  a  free  course  to  your  thought,  and  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil  will  make  of  you  a  God,"  forces  it  to  this 
humiliating  avowal :  "  I  am  only  an  animal ;  to  think  is  to 
degrade  myself."* 

Pride  passing  from  the  mind  into  the  will,  enkindles  in  it 
the  fires  of  ambition,  and  introduces  into  the  heart  of  man  a 
second  fury,  avarice. 

In  a  world  where  gold  regulates  everything,]-  man  is  nothing 
and  can  be  nothing  without  wealth.  Hence  a  grasping  avarice, 
which  would  swallow  up  the  universe,  if  it  did  not  meet  with 
^rival  cupidity  to  dispute  the  command  with  it.  But  as  the 
desires  of  ambition  and  avarice  extend  in  a  much  larger  pro- 
portion than  their  domain  or  their  treasure,  they  mourn  over 
their  own  insignificance  at  the  height  of  grandeur,  and  over 
their  misery  in  the  bosom  of  opulence.  Alexander,  master 
of  half  the  world,  was  inconsolable  that  it  was  no  larger. 

Then  comes  the  ill  success  of  ambition.  How  many  as- 
cend the  Capitol  only  to  fall  from  the  Tarpeian  rock !  How 

*  "  L'homme  qui  pense  est  un  animal  deprave."  (/.  J.  Rousseau.) 
t  Pecunite  obed'unt  omnia.  (Eccles.  x.  19.) 


SIN    OF    THE    FIRST    MAN.  77 

many  who  have  reached  the  Kremlin,  find  there  the  road  to 
St.  Helena  !  How  many  eager  speculators  are  thrown  from 
the  royal  exchange  into  a  prison  or  a  hospital ! 

Wretched  himself,  the  avaricious  and  ambitious  man  is  also 
a  scourge  to  others.  Wishing  to  satisfy  his  fictitious  wants, 
he  creates  around  him  real  necessities.  As  we  have  already 
said,  the  goods  of  this  earth  are  limited ;  they  cannot  accumu- 
late in  certain  hands  without  leaving  others  empty  ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  words  of  Seneca,  thousands  of  poor  are  required 
to  make  one  man  rich.*  Indigence  is  also  extreme  wherever 
colossal  fortunes  are  building  up.  Among  nations  still  more 
than  among  individuals,  it  is  the  love  of  riches  which  engen- 
ders poverty. 

Man  wishes  to  possess,  only  to  enjoy.  Having  become 
wholly  flesh,]  and  seeing  nothing  beyond  the'  narrow  sphere 
of  the  senses,  he  plunges  into  animal  delights,  and  quenches 
his  burning  thirst  for  pleasure  in  vile  enjoyments.  But  what 
are  the  pleasures  of  earth  for  a  heart  which  God  alone  can 
satisfy !  J  Degrading  and  severe  maladies,  gnawing  enr.ui, 
dullness,  weariness  of  life,  which  are  always  in  the  train  of 
pleasure,  prove  that  sensuality  is  its  own  executioner. 

Mental  degradation,  poverty,  disgust  of  life,  carried  even 
to  suicide,  these  are  the  end  of  man,  when  relinquishing  the 
hope  of  heaven,  he  attempts  to  satisfy  here  below  his  immense 
desire  of  knowledge,  wealth  and  pleasure. 

But  if  these  three  passions,  which  a  sacred  writer  calls  the 
essence  of  the  world,  §  diffuse  such  bitterness  throughout  our 
actual  existence,  how  will  it  be  in  the  life  to  come  ? 

*  Ex  multis  paupcrtalibus  divitice  fiunt.  (Ep.  Ixxxviii.) 
f  Gen.  vi.  3. 

J  Satiabor,  cum  apparuerit  gloria  tua.  (Ps.  xvi.  15.) 
§  Omne  quod  est  in  mundo  eoncupiscentia  carnis  est,  et  concupis- 
centia  oculorum,  et  superbia  vitae.  (I.  John  ii.  16.) 

7* 


78  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

DOCTRINE    OF   CHRISTIANITY    CONCERNING    HELL,    EMINENTLY 
RATIONAL. IS    GOD    THE    CREATOR    OF    HELL? 

CHRISTIANITY  has  been  reproached  for  its  doctrine  con- 
cerning hell.  On  this  point,  however,  as  on  many  others,  it 
has  only  confirmed  and  purified  the  universal  faith,  as  one  of 
its  great  enemies  avowed  more  than  fifteen  centuries  ago. 

The  Christians,  said  Celsus,  are  right  in  thinking  that  those 
who  lead  holy  lives  will  be  rewarded  after  death,  and  that  the 
wicked  will  suffer  eternal  punishment.  This  sentiment,  how- 
ever, is  common  to  them  with  all  the  world.* 

Let  any  one  read  what  the  Egyptians  have  said  of  their 
Amenthes ;  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  of  Hades  and  Tartarus ; 
the  Persians,  of  their  Douzakh ;  the  Hindoos,  of  their  Pata- 
lam  ;  the  Scandinavians  of  their  Nastroud,  &c.,  and  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  dogma  of  an  hell,  of  an  eternal  hell,  is  always 
in  harmony  with  the  common  sense  of  the  people.  This  be- 
lief must  necessarily  have  had  very  deep  root  in  the  human 
mind,  to  resist  the  shock  of  violent  passions  in  the  religions 
of  Paganism,  and  oblige  the  majority  of  philosophers  to  be  of 
the  same  mind  concerning  it  as  the  common  people,  f 

Besides,  nothing  is  more  natural,  or  more  logically  neces- 
sary, than  the  existence  of  hell.  Could  the  eternal  legislator 
be  blind  to  what  the  most  unenlightened  person  amongst  us 

*  Celsus,  apud  Origen.  lib.  viii. 

t  Among  others,  Plato,  in  various  parts  of  his  works ;  Cicero,  in  the 
book  of  Consolation  (Lactant  Instit.  iii.  19.) :  and  Plutarch,  Delay  of 
Divine  justice.  The  first,  after  having  spoken  in  his  Gorgias  of  the 
frightful  punishments  which  entirely  incorrigible  criminals  would  suf- 
fer eternally,  adds :  "  What  I  say  may  be  despised,  I  know  ;  but  after 
mature  reflection  and  thorough  examination,  I  find  nothing  which 
w  more  consonant  with  wisdom,  reason  and  truth." 


IS    GOD    THE    CREATOR   OF    HELL?  79 

detects  in  the  heart  of  man  ;  a  mass  of  corruption,  which  can 
be  overthrown  only  by  the  fear  of  punishment? 

Not  a  political  society,  nor  even  the  smallest  corporation, 
can  be  found  on  the  earth,  that  has  not  its  purgatory  and  hell, 
that  is  to  say,  a  series  of  penalties  graduated  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  offences  committed,  and  extending  from  the 
slightest  censure  to  death  itself.* 

What  a  truly  contemptible  contradiction!  We  consent 
that  earthly  rulers  should  inflict  penalties  as  terrible  as  that  of 
death,  to  inspire  respect  for  laws  whose  scope  is  low  and  tem- 
porary ;  and  we  are  not  willing  that  God  should  lift  the  arm 
of  his  justice,  when  the  laws  of  an  eternal  society  are  to  be 
protected,  and  man  elevated  to  the  sublime  height  of  his 
destiny ! 

It  may  be  said,  what  proportion  is  there  between  temporal 
faults  and  eternal  punishments  ? — I  will  ask  in  my  turn ;  what 
proportion  is  there  between  an  assassination,  often  the  act  of 
less  than  a  minute,  and  the  penalty  of  death,  eternal  in  its 
consequences  ? 

I  know  that  in  an  age  of  folly  like  ours,  there  are  many 
foolish  persons  who  would  move  heaven  and  earth,  to  efface 
from  our  codes  this  pretended  relic  of  barbarism.  But  I  know 
also,  that  all  men  of  sense  would  unite  in  saying  to  them : 
"  Gentlemen,  before  abolishing  capital  punishment,  abolish  the 
crimes  which  render  it  indispensable.  We  too  have  feeling 
hearts,  and  the  day  of  a  public  execution  always  seems  to  us 
a  dark  day ;  but  we  can  imagine  one  still  darker,  when  the 
legislator,  conforming  to  your  wishes,  should  venture  to  re- 
move the  only  check  which  restrains  criminals,  and  deliver  us 
up  to  their  mercy. 

"  We  do  indeed  love  all  men  ;  but  our  liveliest  sympathy  is 

*  We  have  no  college  nor  school  so  poorly  organized,  that  it  has  not 
the  power  to  strike  with  death,  that  is,  exclude  forever  from  its  mem- 
bership the  dunce,  who  is  considered  incorrigible.  • 


80  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

for  these  good  people  who,  thanks  to  God,  form  a  large 
majority.  So  long  as  you  fail  to  offer  them  guarantees  equal 
to  those  which  the  existing  laws  supply  against  the  ferocity 
of  your  clients,  they  will  see  in  your  pretended  philanthropic 
machinations  only  a  treasonable  attempt,  which  would  merit 
condign  punishment,  if  there  \\  us  not  in  your  favor  the  very 
extenuating  circumstance  of  extreme  stupidity." 

I  would  say  to  those  who  wish  for  a  God,  a  religion  and  a 
heaven,  without  a  hell,  change  the  moral  constitution  of  man. 
Induce  him,  freed  from  vicious  inclinations,  (the  unhappy 
fruit  of  the  abuse  of  his  liberty),  to  consent  to  approach 
God  invariably  from  motives  of  hope  and  love,  without  need- 
ing the  influence  of  fear,  and  God  will  at  once  extinguish 
hell ;  for  he  tenderly  loves  his  creatures,  and  is  deeply  afflicted 
at  their  ruin.*  But  until  you  have  done  what  God  himself 
has  not  thought  it  possible  to  do,  f  leave  Christianity  the  only 
lever  it  holds  with  which  to  raise  our  earth-bound  will  to 
heaven. 

The  inductions  which  result  from  the  uniformly  acknowl- 
edged principles  of  faith,  reason,  and  experience,  are  these. — 
Man  will  never  enjoy  God,  if  he  does  not  love  him  above  all 
things ;  he  never  will  love  him  above  all  things,  if  he  does  not 
know  him  ;  he  will  never  know  him,  if  he  does  not  enter  into 
himself,  and  rise  by  reflection  above  the  delusive  impressions 
of  the  senses ;  man  will  never  make  the  necessary  effort  to 
reflect  seriously  on  his  future  destiny,  and  labor  for  his  own 
reformation,  if  he  is  not  moved  to  do  so  at  first  by  fear ;  a 

*  Sap.  i,  13. — xi.  25. 

f  Without  doubt,  God  could  have  made  man  impeccable,  but  de- 
prived of  the  peculiar  honor  of  co-operating  freely  with  the  Creator  in 
his  own  perfection,  man,  according  to  this  hypothesis  would  no  longer 
be  that  wonderful  creature  whom  God  can  call  his  likeness,  bis  friend, 
his  child;  but  a  brilliant  automaton,  placed  in  heaven  as  the  sun  ii 
placed  in  the  firmament. 


IS    GOD    THE    CREATOR    OF    HELL  ?  81 

limited  and  temporary  punishment,  such  as  it  has  been  at- 
tempted to  substitute  for  an  eternal  hell,  will  not  produce  in 
a  heart  where  passion  reigns,  thaty*ear  of  the  Lord,  which  is 
the  beginning  of  wisdom.* 

Let  us  listen  to  the  words  of  a  philosopher  who  is  beyond 
the  reach  of  suspicion.  "  A  fatal  experience  proves  to  us 
that  an  eternity  of  suffering,  however  terrible  it  may  be,  is  no 
more  severe  than  is  needed  to  restrain  us  from  crime.  This 
punishment  is  then  proportioned  to  the  end  which  the  supreme 
legislator  proposes  to  himself,  to  prevent,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  violation  of  his  laws.  If  it  is  in  proportion  to  this  object, 
it  is  not  then  unjust.  Experience,  in  proving  its  necessity, 
shows  its  justice."f 

Yes,  alas !  nothing  less  than  Gehenna  with  all  its  train  of 
eternal  torments  is  required,  to  elevate  the  soul  to  God ;  the 
soul  sunk  in  low  enjoyments  and  ruled  by  brutal  appetites. 
It  is  indeed  hell  that  peoples  heaven ;  and  if  this  consuming 
furnace  is  the  work  of  God,  he  has  kindled  it  with  the  fire  of 
his  love. 

But  is  God  truly  the  creator  of  hell  ?  Does  nothing  oblige 
us  to  believe  it  ?  If  it  is  written  that,  God  has  kindled  afire 
in  his  wrath,  it  is  also  written  that  he  will  draw  this  fire  out 
of  the  heart  of  man.  J  If  it  is  said  that  the  condemned  shall 
be  the  eternal  food  of  death,  it  is  also  said,  that  it  is  the  sin- 
ner, not  God,  who  has  created  death.§  To  some  passages  of 
scripture  which  give  to  God  an  active  part  in  the  punishment 
of  the  condemned,  it  would  be  easy  to  oppose  a  hundred 

*  Initium  sapiential,  timor  Domini.  (Ps.  ex.  10.) 

f  Thomas,  Reflexions  philosophiques  et  litttraires  sur  le  Poeme  de 
la  Religion  naturelle. 

*  Ignis  succensus  est  in  furore  meo,  &c.  (Deuter.  xxxii,  22.) — Pro- 
ducam  ergo  ignem  de  medio  tui,  qui  comedat  te.  (Ezech.  xxviii.  18. 

t  Mors  depascet  eos.  (Ps.  xlviii.  15.) — Deus  mortem  non  fecit .  . 
Impii  autem  manibus  et  verbis  accersierunt  illam.  (Sap.  i.  13,  16.) 


82  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

others  which  affirm  that  it  is  the  sinner  himself  who  has  dug 
his  own  pit,  and  that  he  will  only  reap  in  eternity  what  he  has 
soicn  in  time.* 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

HELL,    AS    WELL    AS    HEAVEN,    IS    THE    DAILY    CKEATION    OF 
MAN   IN    THIS    LIFE. 

WHAT  is  hell  ?  It  is  the  work  of  pride,  cupidity,  and  sen- 
suality ;  a  work  still  latent  in  the  heart  of  the  living  man,  but 
which  must  necessarily  be  developed  with  terrific  force  at  the 
moment  when  death  places  the  sinner  in  the  presence  of  God. 

Let  us  review  some  of  the  principles  already  established. 

Happiness  consists  in  the  possession  of  an  object  capable 
of  entirely  satisfying  our  desires;  unhappiness,  in  the  priva- 
tion of  this  object.^  The  degree  of  happiness  or  misery 
depends  on  the  intensity  of  desire.  The  intensity  of  desire 
is  in  proportion  to  the  capacity  of  the  affections.  The  de- 
velopement  of  this  capacity  is  in  proportion  to  the  number 
and  intensity  of  acts,  that  is,  of  efforts  made  to  reach  the 
object  desired. 

Two  objects  solicit  the  love  of  every  man  at  his  birth  ; 
God  and  the  creature.  On  one  side,  God,  an  unfathomable 
and  shoreless  ocean  of  goodness,  power,  and  beauty,  alone 
capable  of  quenching  our  thirst  of  knowledge,  wealth  and 
pleasure ;  he  would,  of  course,  take  captive  our  love,  if  we 
were  permitted  to  contemplate  his  essence ;  but,  through  re- 

*  Lacum  aperiut,  et  effodit  eum :  et  incidit  in  foveam  quam  fecit. 
(Ps.  vii.  1C.) — In  operibus  manuum  suarum  comprebensus  est  peccator. 
(Ps.  ix.  17.) — Quae  enim  seminaverit  homo,  hsec  et  metet.  (Gal.  vi.  8.) 

f  See  as  above,  ch.  xv 


HELL    THE    DAILY    CREATION    OF    MAN.  83 

spect  for  the  liberty  which  he  has  given  us,  he  veils  from  our 
eye,  during  the  short  course  of  human  life,  his  ineffably  bene- 
ficent qualities,  and  influences  our  hearts  only  by  the  spectacle 
of  his  sensible  works,  by  the  interior  voice  of  conscience  and 
of  grace,  and  by  the  teachings  of  religion.  On  the  other 
side,  the  creature  is  merely  a  nullity  when  considered  in  itself; 
it  displays  before  us  the  perfections  with  which  God  has  en- 
riched it,  perfections  doubly  deceitful,  both  on  account  of  their 
enormous  disproportion  to  our  desires,  and  their  short  dura- 
tion. 

Man  is  called  to  choose  between  these  two  extremes,  be- 
tween the  whole  and  nothing.  He  cannot  attach  himself  to 
God  without  detaching  himself  from  the  creature ;  nor  attach 
himself  to  the  creature  without  despising  God.*  If  he  seeks 
God,  if  he  applies  his  understanding  to  the  knowledge  of  him, 
if  he  bends  his  will  to  his  laws,  in  contempt  of  his  own  in- 
clinations, each  thought,  each  sigh  is  a  step  towards  happi- 
ness ;  it  is  one  degree  more  of  the  opening  of  his  soul  to 
God ;  it  is  a  germ  of  life  deposited  in  his  heart,  which  is  only 
awaiting  the  sun  of  eternity  to  unfold  it.  The  more  he  mul- 
tiplies these  acts  during  his  life,  the  more  intense  they  become, 
and  the  more  also,  in  the  day  of  recompense,  his  heart  will 
dilate  and  become  capable  of  a  more  perfect  communication 
with  the  divine  being. j- 

If,  on  the  contrary,  man  following  only  the  impulse  of  his 
senses  falls  into  the  coarse  net  which  creatures  extend  for 
him ;  |  if  he  abandons  his  heart  to  the  love  of  the  honors, 

*  Nemo  potest  duobus  dominis  servire ;  aut  cnim  unum  odio  habebit 
et  alterum  diliget ;  aut  unum  sustinebit,  et  alterum  contemnet.  Non 
potestis  Deo  servire  et  mammonae.  (Matth.  vi.  24.) 

f  Ego  sum  Dominus  Deus  tuus  .  .  .  Dilata  os  tuum,  et  implebo  illud. 
(Ps.  Ixxx.  11.) 

J  Creaturae  Dei  in  odium  facte  sunt,  et  in  tentationem  animabus 
hominum,  et  in  muscipulam  pedibus  insipientium.  (Sap.  xiv.  11.) 


84  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

riches  and  pleasures,  which  the  fleeting  vision  of  this  world 
offers  him,  every  effort  he  makes  to  procure  them,  in  contempt 
of  the  Divine  love,  is  a  sin,  that  is,  according  to  the  deep  sig- 
nification of  this  word,  it  is  an  error,  a  fall,  a  false  step,  which 
separates  him  from  the  true  good  ;*  it  is  an  approach  towards 
death.  Eager  for  vanity,  exciting  in  his  heart  wild  desires 
which  can  never  be  satisfied,  f  he  prepares  for  himself  eternal 
regrets,  and  the  liveliness  of  his  regrets  will  be  in  proportion 
to  the  intensity  of  his  desires. 

Let  us  imagine  now  two  men  who  have  given  to  their  facul- 
ties an  equal  development,  one  towards  God,  the  other  towards 
the  creature.  In  both  the  same  love  of  honor,  wealth  and 
pleasure,  (for  the  love  of  these  things  is  innate  in  man  ;  with 
this  difference  only,  that  the  one  seeks  them  where  they  are, 
the  other  where  they  are  not).  What  a  prodigious  distance, 
however,  separates  these  two  beings !  one  carries  heaven  in 
his  heart,  the  other  hell ;  and  yet  they  little  suspect  this,  so 
deeply  are  they  involved  in  the  obscurity  of  this  life,  while 
they  are  passing  through  it.  If  a  foretaste  of  celestial  joy  is 
sometimes  permitted  to  the  one,  he  only  deplores  more  deeply 
the  continuance  of  his  exile,  and  with  sighs  he  fills  up  the 
measure  of  those  good  works,  which  are  every  instant  adding 
new  rubies  to  his  eternal  crown. 

If  remorse  and  disgust  exercise  the  other,  he  finds  in  a 
whirlpool  of  pleasures  and  business  a  means  of  distraction, 
and  he  swallows  like  water  those  iniquities  which  will  soon  be 
changed  into  eternal  flames. 

*  In  most  languages,  sin  is  synonymous  with  fall,  vjandering,  going 
astray,  rebellion,  falling  away,  &.c.  See  in  Hebrew,  the  roots  Chata, 
Paschah,  &c.,  in  Greek,  A'/japracej. 

f  And  how  could  they  be  satisfied !  since  the  sinner  desires  two 
things  evidently  impossible ;  1st,  to  find  perfect  happiness  in  imper- 
fect objects;  2d,  to  enjoy  infinitely,  creatures  whose  end  everything 
proclaims.  It  is  also  written,  the  desire  of  the  sinner  shall  perish. 
(Ps.  cxi.  10.) 


HELL    THE    CREATION    OF    MAN.  85 

To  reveal  the  fund  of  life  and  of  death  accumulated  in 
these  two  hearts,  what  is  required  ?  A  ray  from  the  face  of 
the  Godhead,  a  spark  of  that  divine  fire  which  purifies  and 
brings  out  in  incomparable  lustre,  the  gold  of  virtue,  and  burns 
without  consuming  the  withered  stalk  of  vice.*  Let  death 
tear  away  the  veil  which  conceals  from  them  the  presence  of 
the  Infinite  Being ;  both  will  equally  experience  in  their 
faculty  of  knowledge,  that  expansion  which  the  intuition  of 
supreme  truth  produces  in  every  intelligence ;  both  will  feel 
equally  in  their  heart,  that  indescribable  burst  of  desire  and  love 
which  the  presence  of  infinite  beauty  necessarily  calls  forth.-}- 

But  the  one,  following  the  direction  which  he  has  impressed 
upon  his  will,  in  the  bosom  of  infinite  love,  will  satisfy,  but 
never  extinguish,  the  ardor  of  his  desires.  There  he  will 
reap,  in  the  ecstacy  of  eternal  joy,  all  that  he  has  sown  in 
the  brief  afflictions  of  life.  Not  a  holy  thought,  not  a  mo- 
ment of  prayer  and  communion  with  God,  that  has  not  pro- 
duced a  more  profound  knowledge  of  the  overwhelming  glo- 
ries of  the  Divine  Being ;  not  a  mortification  suffered  for  God, 
not  an  act  of  humility  or  modesty,  but  has  added  a  step  to 
his  throne,  a  ray  to  his  diadem  ;  not  a  sacrifice  made  for  the 
love  of  poverty,  that  has  not  increased  his  dominion  by  one 
province ;  not  a  fast,  not  an  abstinence,  which  has  not  merited 
an  increase  of  enjoyment;  not  a  cup  of  water  given  to  a 
neighbor  that  is  not  changed  into  a  river  of  joy.|  In  one 
word,  not  an  act  done  for  God  which  has  not  disposed  the 
heart  by  enlarging  it,  for  a  greater  effusion  of  divine  life. 

*  Si  quis  autem  supersedificat .  .  .  aurum,  argentum,  lapides  preti- 
osos,  ligna,  foenum,  stipulam  .  .  .  uniuscujusque  opus  quale  sit,  ignis 
probabit.  (I.  Cor.  iii.  12,  13.) 

f  See  above,  ch.  xix. 

J  Qui  seminant  in  lacrymis,  in  exultationc  metcnt.  Euntes  ibant  et 
flebant,  mittentes  semina  sua.  Venientes  autem  venient  cum  exult- 
atione,  portantes  manipulos  suos.  (Ps.  cxxv.  5,  6.) 

8 


86  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

What  will  take  place,  on  the  contrary,  to  the  confirmed 
devotee  of  this  world?  Irrevocably  placed  by  death  in  a 
declared  opposition  to  the  divine  will,  he  finds  himself  sepa- 
rated from  the  great  river  of  life  by  a  gulf  forever  impassa- 
ble.* There  alone  with  his  works,  he  gathers  also  in  the 
paroxysms  of  an  eternal  despair  the  fruits  of  death  which  he 
has  sown  in  the  vain  joys  of  earth.  For  every  effort  of  his 
pride  to  glorify  itself,  before  men,  there  is  a  corresponding 
degree  of  abjectness ;  for  every  guilty  project  to  increase  his 
riches,  an  increase  of  misery ;  for  every  criminal  pleasure,  a 
proportionate  share  of  suffering.  How  could  it  be  other- 
wise ?  If  it  is  an  obvious  principle  even  of  reason,  that  all 
good  resides  essentially  in  God,  and  that  sin  separates  from 
God,  is  it  not  plain  that  the  sinner  plunges  into  darkness, 
humiliation,  misery  and  suffering,  just  in  proportion  as  he 
withdraws  from  Him  who  is  light,  greatness,  wealth  and 
pleasure  itself.f 

Of  whom  could  this  wretched  being  complain  except  of 
of  himself?  Are  not  the  pains  he  suffers  the  work  of  his 
own  hands?J  Is  it  God  who  has  repelled  him,  is  it  not 
rather  he  who  has  repelled  God,  who  has  said  to  him :  "  De- 
part from  me,  I  do  not  desire  thy  love?"§  What  has  God 
done  ?  After  many  years  of  patience,  he  has  taken  the  inso- 
lent man  at  his  word ;  "  Thy  will  be  done,  he  has  said  to 

*  Inter  nos  et  vos  chaos  magnum  firmatum  est:  ut  hi,  qui  volunt 
hinc  transire  ad  vos,  non  possint,  neque  inde  hue  transmeare.  (Luc. 
xvi.  26.) 

f  Qui  elongant  se  a  te,  peribunt.  (Ps.  Ixxii.  27.)  Omnes,  qui  te 
derelinquunt,  confundentur  :  recedentes  a  te,  in  terra  scribentur :  quo- 
niam  dereliquerunt  venam  aquarum  viventium  Dominum.  (Jerem. 
xvii.  13.) 

J  Luet  quse  fecit  omnia,  nee  tamen  consumetur :  juxta  multitudinem 
adinventionum  suarum,  sic  et  sustinebiL  (Job  xxi.  18.) 

§  Recede  a  nobis,  etscientiam  viarum  tuarum  nolumus.  (Job  xxi.  14.) 


LOSS    OF    THE    REPROBATE.  87 

him ;  thy   life  has  ever  been   forgetfulness  of    thy   God ;  I 
might  punish  thee,  I  am  satisfied  with  forgetting  thee."  * 

Hitherto  we  have  seen  hell  only  as  the  work  of  the  sinner. 
But  is  this  the  whole  ? 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

PAIN    OF    LOSS    OF   THE   REPROBATE. CONJECTURE    CONCERN- 
ING   THE    PAIN    OF   FIRE. 

IN  the  pictures  which  the  scriptures  have  drawn  of  hell, 
we  see  two  sorts  of  punishment,  that  which  theologians  call 
the  pain  of  loss,  represented  by  the  worm  that  never  dies,  that 
is,  the  remorse,  regret  and  despair  resulting  from  losing  God, 
and  the  punishment  of  the  fire  which  is  never  quenched,  •(• 
on  which  Scripture  most  insists,  as  being  most  effectual  in 
making  a  lively  impression  upon  men. 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  of  the  frightful  despair  which  the 
sight  of  what  he  has  lost  in  losing  his  God,  would  awaken 
in  the  heart  of  the  reprobate.  We  have  every  day  under  our 
eye  the  strange  effects  of  an  unhappy  passion.  We  see 
wretched  persons  falling  into  violent  rage,  hating  life  and 
rushing  madly  to  death,  one  because  he  has  lost  a  place  or  a 
fortune  ardently  desired,  the  other  an  idol  of  flesh.  Now  if 
the  human  heart,  small  as  it  is,  is  capable  of  such  tremen- 
dous passions,  what  will  it  become  when  it  is  immeasurably 
expanded  from  its  contact  with  the  Divine  Being !  If  the 
loss  of  an  office  or  a  fortune  wound  it  so  deeply,  how  horri- 
ble will  be  its  sufferings  when  it  finds  itself  deprived  of  the 

*  Si  quis  autem  ignorat,  ignorabitur.  (I.  Cor.  xiv.  38.)     Nunquam 
novi  vos.     Nescio  vos.  (Matth.  vii.  23,  xxv.  12.) 

*  Vermis  eorum  non  moritur,  et  ignis  non  extinguitur.  (Mark  ix.  45.) 


88  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

immense  inheritance  of  glory,  power  and  wealth,  which  God 
shares  with  those  who  love  him !  If  it  cannot  support  the 
loss  of  one  of  those  fragile  beauties,  which  are  born  and  die 
by  thousands  every  day,  how  will  it  support  the  loss  of  the 
one  eternal  beauty,  of  which  all  created  perfections  were  they 
united  in  the  same  person,  are  but  a  vain  shadow ! 

For  the  reflecting  man  there  are  many  consolations  in  tlie 
misfortunes  of  this  life. 

There  is  no  creature  so  perfect  as  to  be  faultless,  and  the 
despised  lover  can  revenge  himself  by  contempt.  But  who 
can  despise  God,  that  ha's  once  seen  him ! 

There  are  no  creatures  who  have  not  many  resembling 
them.  But  there  is  but  one  God,  and  apart  from  God  there 
is  nothing. 

There  is  no  lasting  enjoyment  in  this  life,  and  infidelity 
only  anticipates  death.  But  God  once  possessed  is  never  lost. 

Misfortunes  here  below  are,  for  the  most  part,  involuntary, 
and  rarely  can  the  victim  say  ;  "  I  could  have  prevented  "... 
But  the  reprobate  can  only  accuse  himself;  "I  have  what  I 
deserve ;  if  my  suffering  is  endless,  it  is  because  my  folly 
was  boundless." 

Finally,  Death  is  always  present,  saying  to  the  afflicted ; 
"  Your  sorrows  will  have  an  end."  But  the  lost  soul  reads 
everywhere;  "Eternity!"  and  his  eye  is  forced  to  measure 
the  frightful  depths  of  that  word  which  he  never  before 
would  consider. 

Let  us  now  imagine  this  wretched  being,  consumed  by 
boundless  desires  without  the  least  hope  of  satisfying  them, 
a  prey  to  remorse  that  nothing  can  appease,  and  we  shall 
comprehend  without  difficulty  his  gnashing  of  teeth,  his 
weeping,  and  his  calling  in  vain  for  death.* 

*  Ibi  crit  fletus,  et  stridor  dentium.  (Matth.  viti.  12.)  Quaerent 
homines  mortem,  etnon  invenient  earn  ;  ct  desiderabunt  mori,  ct  fugiet 
mors  ab  eis.  (Apoc.  ix.  C.) 


LOSS    OF    THE    REPROBATE.  89 


This  is  indeed  the  never-dying  worm  which  sin  deposits  in 
the  heart  of  the  sinner;  this  is  the  inextinguishable  fire 
which  will  consume  his  soul. 

But  will  the  fire  which,  according  to  Scripture  and  univer- 
sal belief,  must  torment  the  body  of  the  condemned,  be  found 
there  also,  or  is  it  only  the  irruption  of  the  fires  of  the  soul 
into  the  physical  organization  ?  This  conjecture,  I  think 
may  be  permitted,  without  violating  Scripture  or  tradition. 
Both  suppose  a  real  fire  which  will  inflict  a  suffering  upon 
the  condemned,  distinct  from  the  pain  of  loss,  and  it  would 
be  presumptuous  to  admit  only  a  metaphorical  fire,  and  one 
identical  with  moral  suffering  alone ;  *  but  both  preserve 
silence  on  the  origin  and  secret  nature  of  this  fire. — Many 
passages  of  Scripture  even  imply  that  this  terrible  agent  of 
Divine  vengeance,  is  to  be  the  work  of  the  sinner,-]-  and 
distinguished  Christian  philosophers  have  concurred  in  this 
belief. 

"  Do  not  believe,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "  that  this  serenity 
and  ineffable  divine  light,  can  draw  from  itself  wherewith  to 

*  This  was  the  opinion  of  Origen  and  Lactantius,  which  was  not  for- 
mally condemned  but  visibly  contradicted  by  the  unanimous  teaching 
of  the  Fathers,  and  irreconcileable  with  the  principles  of  sacred  criti- 
cism, the  Bible  speaking  in  various  places  of  the  fire  of  hell,  without 
any  indication  of  metaphor.  We  must  not  however,  confound  the 
reality  of  hell  fire  with  its  materiality ;  the  latter  is  at  least  very 
doubtful,  when  natural  philosophers  call  in  question,  and  not  without 
some  reason,  the  materiality  of  terrestial  fire.  (See  Thenard,  Element 
de  chimie,  torn.  i.  page  35.)  Admitting,  as  we  do,  the  reality  of  the 
effects  of  infernal  fire,  the  claims  of  the  doctrine  are  equally  satisfied. 

t  To  the  passages  cited  in  the  text  or  the  notes  of  the  two  preceding 
chapters,  the  number  of  which  could  be  easily  increased,  I  shall  only 
add  these  words  of  the  Psalmist,  very  remarkable  for  the  identity  of 
the  cause  which  they  assign,  both  for  the  happiness  of  the  just,  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  condemned:  Lcctificabis  eum  in  gaudio  cum  vultu 
tuo  .  .  .  Pones  eos  ut  clibanum  ignis  in  tempore  vultus  tui  .  .  .  Pone* 
eos  dorsum,  &c.  (Ps.  xx.  7,  10,  13.) 

8* 


90  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

punish  sin,  but  rather  that  it  has  so  ordered  our  sins,  that 
what  constituted  the  pleasure  of  the  sinner  will  serve  as  an 
instrument  of  divine  vengeance."* 

Bossuet,  developing  the  thought  of  the  eagle  of  Hippo, 
speaks  thus.  "  Let  us  not  imagine  that  hell  consists  in  fear- 
ful torments,  in  pools  of  fire  and  sulphur,  in  eternally  devour- 
ing flames,  in  rage,  despair  and  horrible  gnashing  of  teeth. 
Hell,  if  we  understand  it,  is  sin  itself;  hell  is  to  be  deprived 
of  God,  and  the  proof  of  it  is  evident  from  the  Scriptures."^ 
Elsewhere,  commenting  upon  these  words  of  the  Lord  in 
Ezekiel :  /  will  make  to  come  forth  from  the  midst  of  thec, 
the  fire  which  shall  devour  thee ;  he  adds ;  "  I  shall  not  send 
it  from  afar  against  thee ;  it  shall  be  kindled  in  thy  con- 
science, and  the  flames  shall  burst  forth  from  the  midst  of 
thee,  and  it  shall  be  thy  sins  that  shall  produce  it.  Dost  thou 
remember,  Christian,  that  while  sinning,  thou  art  forging  the 
instrument  of  thy  own  eternal  punishment?  Thou  art 
doing  so.  Thou  swallowest  iniquity  like  water;  and  art 
swallowing  torrents  of  flames."  f 

Experience  itself  favors  this  sentiment. 

What  more  incontrovertible,  than  the  influence  of  the 
moral  affections  over  the  body !  No  violent  passion  is  ever 
enkindled  in  the  soul,  that  the  flames  of  it  do  not  communi- 
cate without.  Despair,  above  all  others,  presents  the  symp- 
toms of  a  true  conflagration.  The  eyes  flash ;  the  blood, 
boiling  in  the  veins,  spreads  fire  to  the  extremities,  and  if  it 

*  Ne  putemus  illam  tranquillitatem  et  ineffabile  lumen,  Dei  de  se  pro- 
ferre  unde  peccata  puniantur:  sed  ipsa  peccata  sic  ordinare,  ut  quae 
fuerunt  delectamenta  homini  peccanti  sunt  instrumenta  Domino  puni- 
enti.  (Enar.  Ps.  vii.  n.  16.) 

t  Sermon  sur  la  gfoire  de  Dieu,  dans  la  conversion  des  picheurs. 
ler.  point. 

J  Sermon  sur  la  necessite  de  la  ptnitcnce,  pour  le  3e.  dimanche  de 
FAvent,  ler.  point.  See  also  Sermon  2e.  pour  le  dimanche  des  Rameaux, 
sur  la  necessit^  des  souffrances,  3e-  point,  et  alibi. 


LOSS    OF    THE    REPROBATE.  91 

is  not  carried  off,  the  organization  is  dissolved  in  the  midst 
of  a  devouring  fever. 

Let  us  imagine  now  in  the  superior  faculties  of  man  the 
fire  of  despair,  as  intense  as  it  will  be  in  the  condemned, 
when  he  contemplates,  by  necessity,  the  immensity  of  his 
misfortune  in  the  greatness  and  beauty  of  the  God  whom 
he  has  lost.* 

Let  us  suppose  also  in  his  material  organization,  that  tena- 
city which  divine  power  will  give  to  the  resuscitated  bodj', 
and  which  will  enable  it  to  suffer  all  the  anguish  of  death 
without  dying,f  an(^  we  can  imagine  without  difficulty  that 
the  condemned  soul,  united  to  the  body,  will  carry  into  it  all 
the  elements  of  an  eternal  conflagration.;}; 

To  this  fire  bursting  forth  from  the  interior  depths  of  man, 
let  us  add  that  which  will  be  kindled  from  the  eternal  assault 
of  all  creatures  in  arms  against  the  enemies  of  God.§  The 
sinner  having  turned  them  against  the  Creator,  by  making 

*  Will  not  the  condemned  see  the  divine  essence  throughout  eter- 
nity, and  will  not  their  punishment  consist  above  all  in  this  sight  ? 
Certain  words  of  scripture  would  authorize  this  conjecture;  among 
others,  the  following  :  Pcenas  dabunt  in  interitu  aeternas  a.  facie  Domini, 
et  a  gloria  virtutis  ejus,  (II.  Thessal.  i.  9.)  See  the  commentators  on 
this  passage.  As  for  the  rest,  we  have  no  need  of  this  hypothesis  to 
support  our  conjectures  concerning  the  fires  of  hell.  All  agree  that 
the  condemned  will  see  God  at  least  at  the  day  of  judgment :  now,  God 
once  seen,  how  can  he  be  forgotten  ! 

f  Mors  depascet  eos.  (Ps.  xlviii.  13.) — Fugiet  mors  ab  eis.  (Apoc. 
ix.  6.) 

{  It  may  be  easily  conceived,  after  what  we  have  said  above,  (ch. 
xxv.)  that  the  intensity  of  this  fire  will  necessarily  be  proportioned  to 
the  degree  of  culpability  in  each  individual,  and  that  in  the  same  indi- 
vidual it  will  torment  more  violently  the  most  offending  organs,  accom- 
plishing thus  the  divine  law:  per  qua?  peccat  quis,  per  heec  et  torque- 
tur.  (Sap.  v.  IS,  21.) 

§  Armabit  creaturam  ad  ultionem  inimicorum  .  .  .  et  pugnabit  euro, 
illo  orbis  terrarum  contra  insensatos.  (Sap.  v.  18,  21.) 


92  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

them  serve  his  iniquities,  is  it  not  just  that  they  should  avenge 
this  violence  by  turning  against  the  traitor?  It  is  very  natural 
to  believe,  that  in  this  transformation  after  which  they  have 
sighed,*  creatures  will  become,  according  to  the  different  dis- 
positions of  the  elect  and  condemned,  a  subject  of  joy  for 
the  former,  and  torment  for  the  latter,  f 

T  will  not  stop  to  speak  of  another  punishment  of  the 
guilty,  that  of  the  society  of  hell.  Satan  being  the  first  of 
sinners,  and  the  instigator  of  all  sin,  it  is  just  that  the  man 
who  yields  to  his  inspirations  in  contempt  of  the  divine  law, 
should  fall  under  the  power  of  this  master.J  And  what  a 
master  is  this  most  perverse  of  beings !  what  society  is  that 
of  desperadoes,  furies  and  demons! 

But  enough.  If  this  philosophical  view  of  hell  has  power 
to  cause  him  who  would  measure  its  extent,  to  shudder,  it  is 
wonderfully  adapted  to  justify  the  God  of  Christians  from  the 
reproach  of  cruelty  raised  by  the  skeptic.  Hell  thus  com- 
prehended is  exclusively  the  creation  of  the  sinner.  If  the 
wretched  man  finds  all  evil  pouring  over  him  as  ajlood,§  it 
is  because  he  persists  in  living  far  from  Him  who  contains 
within  himself  all  good.  It  is  not  a  strange  hand  that  kin- 
dles the  devouring  fire :  all  his  torment  consists  in  being 
delivered  up  to  himself,  ||  and  it  is  that  which  he  has  always 
desired. 

There  is  only  one  more  possible  objection  ;  it  is  that  God, 

*  Exspectatio  creatures,  revelationem  filiorum  Dei  exspectat.  (Rom. 
viii.  19.) 

t  We  may  cite  for  example  the  sun,  whose  light  rejoices  or  scorches 
the  eye,  according  as  the  latter  is  well  or  ill-conditioned. 

f  Qui  facit  peccatum,  ex  diabolo  est;  quoniam  ab  initio  diabolus 
peccat.  (I.  John  iii.  8.) 

§  Omnis  dolor  irruet  super  eum.  (Job  xx,  22.) 

||  Devorabit  eum  ignis,  qui  non  succenditur,  affligetur  relictus  in 
tabernaculo  suo.  (Job  xx.  26.) 


NECESSITY    OF    THE    INCARNATION.  93 

knowing  the  weakness  and  stupidity  of  man,  owed  it  to  his 
benevolence  either  to  leave  this  being  in  non-existence,  or 
enlighten  him  fully  with  regard  to  the  eternal  consequences  of 
sin.  The  following  chapters  will  show,  if  on  this  last  point 
God  has  withheld  from  us  the  light. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

NECESSITY    OF    THE    INCARNATION. PREPARATION    OF    THE 

HUMAN   RACE    FOR    THIS   EVENT. ITS    REALISATION. 

WHEN  by  meditation  upon  the  principles,  which  I  have  now 
established,  we  are  entirely  convinced  of  the  astonishing 
destinies  of  man ;  when  we  see  him  placed  in  the  terrible 
alternative  of  rising  to  infinite  happiness,  or  sinking  into 
eternal  torments ;  when,  on  the  other  hand,  we  consider  the 
extreme  weakness  and  corruption  of  this  being,  the  frightful 
carelessness  with  which  he  journies  through  life,  without  ever 
asking  where  he  is  going  ;  when  we  think  of  the  insurmount- 
able obstacles  which  he  opposes  to  the  divine  offers  of  affec- 
tion, by  his  brutal  habits,  we  ask  ourselves  in  alarm :  "  Who 
will  transform  this  worm  of  the  dust  into  an  angel !  *  Who 
will  have  power  to  bring  forth  from  this  mire,  a  being  pure 
and  noble  enough  for  the  thrice  holy  God  to  rest  his  eye  upon 
him  with  complacency!" 

Who — The  All-Powerful  alone.  But  if,  in  order  to  pre- 
serve to  man  his  liberty,  God  chooses  to  employ  only  the 
moral  influence  of  word  and  example,  how  can  man  be  made 
to  understand  it,  since  he  has  lost  the  sense  by  which  God  is 

*  Noi  siam  vermi. 
Nati  a  formar  1'angelica  farfalla.  (Dante.) 


94  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

perceived?*  Will  God  assume  a  body?  "Yes,"  answers 
Christianity. 

Since,  then,  the  children  of  God  have  become  flesh  and  blood, 
the  Word,  which  has  created  them  and  can  alone  regenerate 
them,  (God  acting  only  through  his  Word)  has  become  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us,  full  of  grace  and  truth.f 

To  prepare  the  human  race  for  an  event  which,  by  its 
enormous  disproportion  to  our  intellectual  weakness,  would 
have  shocked  our  ignorance,  required  no  less  than  forty  cen- 
turies. 

God  first  announced  it  under  a  veil  of  mystery,  to  our 
guilty  ancestors,  on  the  very  scene  of  their  crime.J  The 
promise  of  a  Redeemer,  frequently  renewed  to  the  patriarchs, 
was  spread  abroad  throughout  all  nations  coming  forth  from 
their  loins,  with  the  profoundly  mysterious  rite  of  the  bloody 
sacrifice.  The  expectation  of  a  victim  who  should  descend 
from  heaven  to  purify  humanity,  became  the  religion  of  all 
the  children  of  Adam. 

The  Jewish  nation  was  chosen  to  preserve  the  promise  in 
all  its  purity,  and  in  the  fullness  of  time  to  proclaim  the  ac- 
complishment of  it  to  the  world.  Hence  the  isolated  exist- 
ence of  this  wonderful  people ;  hence  its  symbolical  religion, 
its  legislation  truly  incomprehensible,  until  the  completion  of 
it  by  Christ.§ 

Hence  among  this  people  the  mysterious  office  of  the  Pro- 
phets, who,  as  ambassadors  despatched  from  heaven,  came  in 
succession  during  eleven  centuries  to  announce  the  arrival  of 

*  Animalis  autem  homo  non  percipit  ea  quae  sunt  Spiritus  Dei.  (I. 
Cor.  ii.  14.) 

t  Quia  ergo  pueri  communicaverunt  carni  et  sanguini,  et  ipse  simili- 
ter  participavit  eisdem.  (Heb.  ii.  14.)  Verbum  caro  factum  cst  et  ha- 
bitavit  in  nobis  .  .  .  plenum  gratise  et  veritatis.  (John  i.  14.) 

\  Inimicitias  ponam  inter  te  et  mulierem,  et  semen  tuum  et  semen 
illius:  ipsa  conteret  caput  tuum.  (Gen.  iii.  15.) 

§  Finis  enim  legis,  Christus.  (Rom.  x.  4.) 


NECESSITY    OF    THE    INCARNATION.  95 

the  great  king,  and  each  writes  in  anticipation  a  page  of  his 
history ;  for  this  history,  in  order  to  be  believed,  has  need  of 
the  testimony  of  all  ages. 

At  the  same  time  that  God  multiplied  prodigies  to  prepare 
the  world  for  faith  in  the  greatest  of  prodigies,  the  human  race 
multiplied  and  infinitely  increased  their  disgraceful  sufferings, 
to  justify  the  intervention  of  the  supreme  physician  to  the 
blindest  eye.  The  history  of  pagan  nations,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  Jewish  nation,  is  the  prelude  to  the  Gospel. 

Four  thousand  years  had  past  after  the  fatal  conversation 
of  Eve  with  the  angel  of  darkness,  when,  in  a  poor  dwelling 
of  the  little  city  of  Nazareth,  an  angel  leaving  the  abode  of 
light,  came  to  treat  of  our  salvation  with  a  young  daughter 
of  Judah.  By  a  woman  our  ruin  began  ;  and  to  a  woman 
God  reserved  the  beginning  of  our  redemption. 

Mary  opposed  to  the  pride,  cupidity,  and  sensuality  of  the 
first  woman,  the  three  contrary  virtues.  Her  words  impressed 
with  a  profound  love  of  humility,  disinterestedness  and  pu- 
rity,* announced  the  true  mother  of  the  living,  a  glorious  title, 
which  was  bestowed  on  Eve  only  in  trust,  even  if  it  were  not 
cast  at  her  in  severest  f  derision. 

Mary  submitted,  and  immediately,  by  the  power  of  the  arm 
of  the  Most  High,  which  threw  the  celestial  intelligences  into 

*  Humility :  at  the  very  flattering  salutation  of  the  angel,  Mary  is 
troubled.  (Turbata  est,  &.C.,  Luke  i.  29.) — She  was  told  that  she  \vasfull 
of  grace,  and  was  to  become  the  Mother  of  the  Most  High  ;  she  an- 
swered that  she  was  only  his  servant,  and  sought  in  her  lowliness  alone, 
the  reason  for  the  choice  of  the  Lord.  (Luke  i.  38,  48.) — She  con- 
cealed from  her  spouse  her  infinite  dignity,  at  the  risk  of  suffering  the 
most  cruel  indignity.  (Matt.  i.  19.) — What  heroic  disinterestedness, 
what  love  of  purity,  in  the  resolution  to  renounce  the  most  glorious 
throne  of  heaven  next  to  that  of  God,  rather  than  to  expose  her  vir- 
ginity !  (Quomodo  fiet  istud,  &c.)  (Luke  i.  34.) 

t  Et  vocavit  Adam  nomeri  uxoris  suse,  Heva  •  eo  quod  mater  esset 
cunctorum  viventium.  (Gen.  iii.  20.) 


90  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

an  eternal  rapture,  He  whose  majesty  surpasses  the  immen- 
sity of  the  heavens,  He  who  holds  in  his  hand  the  universe  as 
a  grain  of  sand,  enclosed  himself  in  the  womb  of  a  virgin.* 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

OFFICE    OF    THE    GOD-MAN. 

As  mediator  between  God  and  man,  descending  upon  the 
earth  to  overthrow  the  wall  of  division  which  excluded  us 
forever  from  the  celestial  country,  the  God-Man  has  a  double 
office  to  fill,  one  towards  God,  the  other  towards  man. 

To  God,  whose  majesty  has  been  grossly  violated  by  the 
contempt  of  man,  a  satisfaction  must  be  made.  What  satis- 
faction ?  No  other  than  the  death  of  the  guilty. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  death  is  the  wages  of  sin,  and  it 
is  a  law  of  unchangeable  order,  that  the  creature  cannot 
rebel  against  the  Creator  without  introducing  throughout  his 
being  the  elements  of  eternal  death.f 

The  divine  representative  of  humanity  must  then  die ;  and 
this  sacrifice,  immeasurably  increased  by  the  innocence  and 
infinite  dignity  of  the  victim,  forced  from  the  Divine  justice 
these  words  which  the  eternal  sufferings  of  the  immense  pos- 
terity of  Adam  could  never  have  obtained ;  "  Behold  enough, 
behold  more  than  was  needed."  J  The  Word  also,  while 
assuming  the  body  that  a  divine  hand  had  formed  for  him  in 

*  Beata  mater  munere, 
Cujus  supernus  artifex, 
Mundum  pugillo  continens, 
Ventris  sub  area  clausus  est. 

(Hymn  of  the  Office  of  the  B.  V.  M.) 
f  See  as  above,  ch.  xxii.  xxv.  and  xxvi. 
J  Ubiautemabundavitdeiictum.iuperabundavit  gratia.  (Rom.  v.  20  ) 


OFFICE    OF    THE    GOD-MAN.  97 

tTie  bosom  of  Mary,  said  to  the  Father ;  "  The  victims  and 
the  offerings  of  men  have  nothing  worthy  of  thy  justice ; 
but  it  will  not  be  so  with  the  body  thou  hast  prepared  for  me.* 
What  was  needed  to  prepare  man  for  the  divine  alliance  ? 
— Three  things : 

I.  To  establish  in  his  mind  and  heart,  with  the  living  faith 
of  a  God  dying  for  us,  the  principle  of  all  justice.f     To  in- 
spire him  at  the  same  time  with  a  great  fear  and  a  great  love 
of  God,  by  manifesting  to  him  in  the  depths  of  this  mystery, 
the  whole  of  God's  hatred  of  sin,  and  charity  for  man.     To 
bring  before  him  an  idea  of  the  joys  of  heaven   and  the 
terors  of  hell,  by  the  extraordinary  effort  God   has  vouch- 
safed to  make,  to  put  him  in  possession  of  the  one,  and  pre- 
serve him  from  the  other. 

II.  It  was  necessary  to  confound  his  meanness,  and  teach 
him  by  the  most  powerful  examples  of  humility,  poverty  and 
mortification,  to  destroy  in  himself  the  life  of  pride,  cupidity 
and   sensuality,  which  he  had  received  from  Adam,  a  life 
which    would    necessarily   exclude    him   from   the    celestial 
inheritance.! 

III.  It  was  necessary  to  remedy  his  extreme  weakness  by  the 
infusion  of  a  new  life,  and  rescue  him  from  the  curse  which 
oppresses  the  children  of  the  old  man,  by  incorporating  him 
with  the  new  man,  born  on  Calvary  in  holiness  and  justice.  § 

Immense  task,   which  would  have  overwhelmed   all    the 

*  Ideo  ingrediens  mundum  dicit:  Hostiam  et  oblationetn  noluisti : 
«orpus  autem  aptasti  mihi,  &c.  (Heb.  x.  5.) 

t  The  whole  Christian  doctrine,  in  fact,  is  contained  in  the  know- 
ledge of  Jesus  crucified;  and  St.  Paul,  commissioned  to  announce  all 
truth  to  the  nations,  rejoiced  in  knowing  nothing  else:  JVon  enim 
judicavi  me  scire  aliquid  inter  vos,  nisi  Jesum  Christum,  et  hunc  cru- 
cifixum.  (I.  Cor.  ii.  2.) 

I  Caro  etsanguis  regnum  Dei  possidere  non  possunt.  (I.  Cor.  xv.  50.) 

§  Induite  novum  hominem,  qui  secundum  Deum  creatus  est  in  j'is- 
titia  et  sanctitate  veritatis.  (Ephes.  iv.  24.) 

9 


98  T\'HE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

powers  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  which  made  the  Man-God 
himself  tremble.*  How  should  it  commence?  With  sen- 
sual men,  it  was  necessary  first  to  speak  to  the  eye.  We 
shall  therefore  see  the  Saviour  acting  thirty  years  before 
speaking,f  and  even  then  the  word  will  always  be  subor- 
dinate to  speech. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

BIRTH  OF  THE  COD-MAN. HIS  PRIVATE  AND  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

THE  son  of  Mary  had  he  been  born  on  a  throne  formed 
of  all  the  thrones  of  the  universe,  would  have  been  none  the 
less  a  God  annihilated.];  But  man  had  too  exalted  an  idea 
of  himself,  too  low  a  one  of  God,  to  be  impressed  by  such 
abasement.  It  is  only  reserved  for  the  eye  spiritualized  by 
faith,  to  perceive  the  greatest  of  distance  between  God  and 
men,  between  the  all  and  nothingness. 

To  speak  to  the  gross  senses  of  man,  to  destroy  at  one 
stroke  pride  and  its  two  attendant  vices,  the  Creator  of  the 
universe  was  born  in  a  stable,  the  only  habitation  open  to  the 
poverty  of  his  parents.^  There  was  no  other  cradle  than  a 
manger  for  him  who  came  to  elevate  man  sunk  to  the  level 
of  the  brute.  I  It  was  in  this  depth  of  poverty  and  misery  that 
the  shepherds,  warned  by  heaven  recognized  God  the  Saviour.  U 

*  Csepit  pavere,  et  taedere.  Mark  xiv.  39.) 

f  Csepit  Jesus  facere,  et  docere.  (Acts  i.  1.) 

J  Semetipsum  exinanivit.  (Philipp.  ii.  7.) 

§  Non  erat  eis  locus  in  diversorio.  (Luke  ii.  7.) 

||  Homo,  cum  in  honore  esset,  non  intellcxit :  comparatus  est  jumen- 
tis  insipientibus,  et  similis  factus  est  illis.  (Ps.  xlviii.  13.) 

V  Et  hec  vobis  signuin :  Invenietis  infantem  pannis  involutum,  et 
positum  in  prsesepio.  (Luke  ii.  12.) 


HIS    PRIVATE    AND    PUBLIC    LIFE.  99 

There  is  one  thing  above  all  others,  revolting  to  pride  and 
which  is  yet  at  the  foundation  of  the  social  order,  it  is  the 
sacrifice  of  self-will,  is  submission  to  God,  and  to  all  powei 
which  emanates  from  him.  Jesus  obeyed.  In  the  womb  of 
his  mother  he  obeyed  the  decree  which  summoned  him  to 
Bethlehem  to  take  his  place  on  the  registers  of  the  Roman 
magistrate,  among  the  five  hundred  millions  of  the  slaves  of 
Augustus.  Scarcely  born,  he  obeyed  the  law  which  demanded 
his  blood  to  flow.*  He  endured  the  hardships  of  a  long 
exile.  Returning  to  Nazareth,  he  obeyed  Mary  in  the  offices 
of  a  narrow  household ;  afterwards  he  followed  Joseph  to 
his  labor,  and  learned  from  him,  whom  men  regarded  as  his 
father,  the  art  of  making  yokes  and  ploughs.f  He  even 
submitted  (wonderful  effort  of  resignation  !)  to  the  powei 
which  Satan  has  received  to  tempt  the  children  of  men.| 

After  thirty  years  of  a  life  which  is  contained  in  these  four 
words:  He  was  subject  to  them,\\  he  assembled  around  him 
twelve  poor  artizans  like  himself  to  publish  the  good  news. 
What  news?  The  time  is  accomplished;  the  kingdom  of 
God  is  al  hand :  renounce  then,  all  earthly  affections,  through 
penance;  all  received  opinions,  through  failh.^ 

To  prevent  an  illusion  concerning  the  nature  of  this  king- 
dom, he  unveiled  its  awful  legislation  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount, 11!  in  which,  exalting  all  that  man  prizes,  overthrowing 
all  that  he  adores,  he  crushed  to  dust  the  three  pillars  of  the 
throne  of  Satan,  pride,  cupidity  and  sensuality. 

Such  a  doctrine  required  the  sanction  of  heaven,  and  the 
teaching  of  example ;  hence,  during  the  three  years  which 

*  Circumcision,     f  St.  Justin. 
J  St.  Matthew,  iv.  1. 
§  Et  erat  subditus  illis.  (Luke  ii.  51.) 

||  Quoniam  implctum  est  tempus,  ct  appropinquavit  regnum  Dei: 
paenitemini  igitur,  et  credite  Evangelio.  (Mark  i.  15.) 
H  St.  Matthew,  v. 


100          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GUEAT    PROBLEMS. 

he  employed  in  propagating  it,  he  healed  all  manner  of  siclc- 
ness  and  every  infirmity  among  the  people,*  he  called  the  dead 
themselves  to  testify  to  it ;  he  led  the  poorest,  humblest  and 
most  dependent  life,  and  gave  his  followers  reason  sometimes 
to  envy  the  foxes  their  holes,  f 

By  means  of  his  miracles  and  virtues,  he  induced  a  few  dis- 
ciples to  listen  to  him,  and  occasionally  arrested  the  attention 
and  admiration  of  the  inconstant  multitude ;  but  to  make 
men  believe  and  follow  him  in  the  path  which  he  opened, 
another  pulpit  was  required  than  the  bare  earth  on  the  moun- 
tain-side, or  the  turf  of  the  wilderness.  Besides,  as  he  him- 
self said,  no  person  can  come  to  him  unless  the  father  draw 
him :  J  but  before  the  father  could  diffuse  over  the  barren 
heart  of  man  the  abundant  influences  of  his  grace,  the  son 
of  man  must  shed  the  last  drop  of  his  blood. 

Jesus  was  anointed  king  of  heaven  and  earth,  only  on 
condition  of  taking  the  cross  for  a  throne ;  and  to  bring  the 
universe  to  his  feet,  he  must  ascend  it.§ 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

NECESSITY    FOR    THE    SUFFERINGS    OF   THE    GOD-MAN. 

UNTIL  the  eve  of  his  death,  it  was  the  sole  mission  of  the 
God-man  to  bear  and  sanctify  the  hard  and  painful  yoke 
which  sin  had  cast  upon  the  children  of  Adam,  from  the  day 

*  Sanans  omnem  languorem,  et  omnem  infirmitatem  in  populo' 
(Matth.  iv.  23.) 

t  St.  Matthew,  viii.  20. 

J  Nemo  potest  venire  ad  me,  nisi  Pater  . .  .  traxerit  eum.  (John  vi.  44.) 

§  Et  ego  si  exaltatus  fuero  a.  terra,  omnia  traham  ad  me  ipsum 
(John  xii.  32.) 


SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    GOD-MAN.  101 

of  their  coming  out  of  their  mother's  womb,  until  the  day  of 
their  burial.*  But  here  the  scene  is  changed :  we  are  no  longer 
to  suffer  the  temporal  punishment  due  to  our  crimes,  but  the 
eternal  penalty  attached  to  them;  it  is  hell  with  all  its 
horrors,  for  which  the  representative  of  humanity  is  to  offer 
an  equivalent,  and  more  than  an  equivalent  to  divine  jus- 
tice. 

As  we  have  said,  hell  is  sin  in  all  its  blackness,  experienced 
in  all  its  bitterness ;  hell,  is  to  be  torn  asunder  in  soul  and 
body ;  it  is  to  be  cursed  of  God,  cursed  of  all  creatures ;  it 
is  to  become  the  sport  of  the  most  cruel  of  masters,  Satan. 

But  is  the  son  of  God,  the  object  of  the  eternal  compla- 
cency to  be  cursed  of  his  Father!  The  Most-High  trodden 
under  foot  of  Satan  !  "  Who  could  believe  it ! "  exclaimed, 
three  thousand  years  ago,  a  prophet  describing  this  fearful 
scene.j- 

The  hour  came,  when  earth  and  hell,  executing  the  decree 
of  heaven,  exhibited  to  all  ages  what  must  be  the  punishment 
of  sin,  even  when  protected  by  the  majesty  of  a  God. 

Jesus,  after  having  given  the  last  pledge  of  his  super- 
abundant love\  to  his  disciples,  one  of  whom  betrayed  and 
the  others  abandoned  him,  went  to  the  garden  of  Gethsemane. 
There,  the  cup  of  sorrow,  which  until  then  he  had  not  tasted, 
offered  him  the  depths  of  its  suffocating  dregs.  Nature  re- 
belled, holiness  turned  aside  with  horror;  but  love,  more 
powerful  than  death,  triumphed  over  all  repugnance.  Then 
the  iniquities  of  all  men,  from  him  who  desecrated  Eden,  to 
those  who  shall  darken  with  crime  the  last  hour  of  human 
existence,  came  sweeping  like  a  flood  over  the  great  soul  of 
Christ,  and  bore  with  it  all  the  anguish  of  death,  all  the  tor- 

*  Eccle.  xl.  1. 

t  Quis  credidit  auditui  nostro,  &c.  (Is.  liii.  1,  seq.) 
J  Cum   dilexisset  sues,  qui  erant  in  mundo,  in  finem  dilexit  eos 
(John  xiii.  1.) 

9* 


102  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

nicnts  of  hell,  except  despair.*  In  agony,  he  prayed  morn 
fervently ;  -j-  but  heaven,  which  only  beheld  in  him  our  sins, 
the  object  of  its  malediction,!  was  deaf.  The  tortures  of  the 
mind,  reacting  upon  the  body,  forced  from  it  a  bloody  sweat.§ 
If  an  angel  came  to  sustain  the  victim,  it  was  only  because 
the  sacrifice  was  commencing. 

Behold  Judas  with  the  satellites  of  the  Pontiff;  or  rather, 
according  to  the  significant  words  of  Pilate,  concerning  Jesus : 
"  Behold,  in  Jesus,  man :"  ||  man  with  his  duplicity  and  his 
hypocrisy. — Let  him  receive  the  kiss  of  Judas,  cries  with 
united  voice  heaven,  earth  and  hell. 

Here  is  man  with  his  rebellion,  his  insane  love  of  indepen- 
dence, his  hatred  of  the  yoke  of  duty. — Bind  him,  and  drag 
him  through  the  streets  of  Jerusalem. 

Here  is  man  who,  from  the  height  of  his  pride,  arrogates  to 
himself  the  right  to  judge  and  criticise  everything,  and  who 
presumptuously  censures  even  heaven  itself.TF — Bring  him  be- 
fore the  tribunal ;  subject  him  to  the  most  humiliating  and 
absurd  interrogations,  and  to  the  most  iniquitous  sentence. 

Here  is  man  who  shrinks  from  the  infliction,  even  the  most 
deserved,  his  heart  boiling  over  with  vengeance  at  the  least 
slight  affront. — Let  the  most  unmerited  scourging,  by  the 
vilest  hand,  be  inflicted  on  him. 

Here  is  man  with  his  exalted  opinion  of  his  own  knowledge 
and  wisdom,  with  his  excessive  love  of  approbation  and  praise, 

*  Posuit  Dominus  in  eo  iniquitatem  omnium  nostrum.  (Is.  liii.  6.) — 
Circumdederunt  me  dolores  mortis ;  et  torrentes  iniquitatis  oonturbave- 
runt  me.     Dolores  inferni  circumdederunt  me.  (Ps.  xvii.  5,  6.) 

J  Factus  in  agonia,  prolixius  orabat.  (Luke  xxii.  43.) 

§  Factus  pro  nobis  maledictum.  (Gal.  iii.  13.) 

||  Luke  xxii.  44. 

U  Ecce  homo.  (John  xix.  5.) 

*  Posuerunt  in  ccelum  os  suum  ;  et  lingua  eorum  transivit  in  terra. 
(Ps.  Ixxii.  9.) 


SUFFERINGS    OF    THE    GOD-MAN.  103 

flattering  himself  that  he  knows  everything,  and  is  ignorant 
of  nothing. — Cover  his  eyes,  strike  him,  and  ask  him  who  has 
done  it.  Adorn  him  afterwards  with  the  badges  of  folly,  and 
let  Herod  with  his  court  unite  his  jeers  to  the  shouts  of  the 
multitude.* 

Here  is  man  extremely  jealous  of  the  first  rank,  and  re- 
volving in  his  head  various  plans  of  self-aggrandizement;  on 
the  throne  or  in  the  galleys,  he  must  command,  and  see  his 
fellow-men  at  his  feet. — Search  your  prisons  for  the  most  in- 
famous criminal,  and  let  the  public  voice  elevate  him  above 
the  Man.  Encircle  his  head  with  a  crown  of  thorns ;  arm 
his  hands  with  a  reed,  wrap  his  shoulders  in  a  purple  rag,  then 
striking  his  head,  and  spitting  on  his  face,  bend  the  knee  and 
hail  him  king. 

Here  is  man  with  this  body,  the  consummate  work  of  God's 
hand,  which  he  has  polluted  from  head  to  foot  by  innumer- 
able infamies,  most  of  them  in  secret. — Expose  this  naked 
body  in  your  public  place,  bind  it  to  a  pillar,  and  let  the 
scourge  tear  it  till  its  bones  are  bare.f 

Here  is  man,  with  his  feet  and  hands  still  entire,  and  yet 
full  of  abominations ;  his  mouth  greedy  of  delicacies,  his 
tongue  sailed  with  the  venom  of  slander,  his  attachment  to 
earthly  goods  extreme,  his  aversion  to  suffering  and  death 
strong,  even  when  they  are  softened  by  the  devotion  of  those 
around  him. — Prepare  a  cross,  nail  to  it  his  feet  and  hands, 
give  him  gall  and  vinegar  to  drink,  and  before  he  expires  by 
the  most  cruel  and  ignominious  death,  between  two  criminals, 
let  him  see  his  executioners  dividing  his  garments,  and  the 
assembled  people  insulting  his  sorrows. 

*  Et  velaverunt  eum,  &c.  (Luke  xxii.  G4.)— Sprevit  autem  ilium 
Herodes  cum  exercitu  suo ;  et  illusit  indutum  veste  alba.  (Luke  xxiii. 
11.) 
.  f  Dinumeraverunt  omnia  ossa  mea.  (Ps.  xxi.  IS.) 


104          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

DEATH    OF    THE    SOD-MAX. MORAL    EFFECT   OF   THIS   EVENT. 

IS    CHRISTIANITY    THE    WORK    OF    MAN    OR    OF    GOD  ? 

THE  great  sacrifice  was  drawing  near  its  close,  and  the 
old  man  expiring  under  the  blows  of  divine  wrath,  gave  place 
to  the  new  man. 

In  the  great  act  which  was  to  give  birth  to  the  children  of 
God,  no  man  must  take  part.  Hence  Mary  stood  by  the 
cross,  the  nuptial  couch  of  the  new  Adam,  connecting  him- 
self by  agonizing  sufferings  with  the  generation  of  the  new 
family.  "  Woman,"  said  Jesus  to  her,  showing  her  all  Chris- 
tians in  the  beloved  disciple,  "  behold  thy  son  ;"  then  he  said 
to  the  disciple :  "  Behold  thy  mother."* 

"  All  is  finished"  then  exclaimed  the  Redeemer,  and  utter- 
ing a  loud  cry,  he  expired.-}- 

All  is  finished:  the  effort  which  God  made  to  unseal  the 
eyes  of  men,  exhausted  all  the  resources  of  eternal  wisdom 
and  infinite  love.  If  the  sinner  does  not  shudder  at  this  ter- 
rible blow  of  the  right  hand  of  the  Lord,  if  he  dares  yet  to 
sport  with  crime,  he  can  no  longer  allege  his  ignorance  and 
say  :  "  I  did  not  know  that  sin  was  so  great  an  evil." 

"  If  it  has  been  thus  with  the  green  tree,"  according  to  the 
simple  and  profound  language  of  Jesus  to  the  women  of  Je- 
rusalem, "  what  will  it  be  with  the  dry  !"J  That  is,  if  the 
innocence  of  the  son  of  Mary,  and  the  supreme  majesty 
which  renders  him  equal  to  his  Father,  §  could  not  save  him 
from  the  united  wrath  of  heaven,  earth  and  hell,  because  in 

*  Stabant  autem  juxta  crucem  Jesu  Mater  ejus,  &c.  (John  xix.  23.) 
f  John  xix.  30. 

%  Si  in  virido  ligno  haec  faciunt,  in  arido  quid  (let  ?  (Luke  xxiii.  31.) 
{5  Non  rapinam  arbitratus  est  esse  se  sequalein  Deo.  (Philipp.  ii.  C.) 


IS    CHRISTIANITY    OF    MAN    OR   OF    GOD  ?         105 

his  ineffable  tenderness  he  has  condescended  to  put  himself  in 
our  place,  what  will  then  be  our  fate,  unworthy  creatures  as 
we  are,  corrupt  from  our  birth,  and  our  lives  only  a  tissue  of 
iniquities !  What  compassion  can  we  then  expect  if,  after 
such  a  lesson,  we  still  continue  to  sin  !  Inexorable  judgment 
and  devouring  fire  will  be  the  inevitable  portion  of  those  who, 
crushing  under  foot  the  Son  of  God  and  profaning  the  blood 
of  the  new  covenant,  add  to  contempt  of  the  law  of  God, 
contempt  of  his  unspeakable  compassion  for  sinners.* 

Such  enormities  surpass  the  limits  of  human  folly.  Let  the 
good  news  be  published  throughout  the  universe,  that  God 
so  loved  the  world,  as  to  give  his  only  begotten  Son,  and  that 
he  hates  sin  so  much  that  he  has  punished  it  without  mercy  in 
his  own  Son,  by  whom  it  was  only  assumed  ,-j-  and  henceforth 
there  will  be  seen  in  the  universe  none  but  unbelievers  and 
saints ;  for  how  could  one  believe  this  and  sin ! 

To  complete  his  work,  the  Saviour  had  then  only  to  choose 
the  means  best  adapted  to  diffuse  and  confirm  the  great 
tidings.  Coming  forth  victorious  from  the  tomb,  he  assem- 
bled his  disciples,  who  were  dispersed  by  fear,  and  commanded 
them  to  go  and  preach  the  gospel  to  all  nations  under  the  sun, 
promising  to  be  with  them  all  days,  even  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  world. 

He  clothed  them  with  such  authority,  that  incredulity  would 
be  a  folly  and  a  crime.J  To  the  power  of  enlightening  and 
convincing  the  mind  of  man,  he  added  that  of  healing  the 

*  Voluntarie  enim  peccantibus  nobis  post  acceptam  notitiam  veritatis, 
jam  non  relinquitur  pro  peccatis  hostia,  terribilis  autem  quaedam  ex- 
spectatio  judicii,  et  ignis  aemulatio  .  .  .  Qui  filium  Dei  conculcaverit 
et  sanguinem  Testament!  pollutum  duxerit,  &c.  (Heb.  x.  26,  seq.) 

f  Sic  enim  Deus  dilexit  mundum,  ut  Filium  suum  unigenitum  daret. 
(John  iii.  16.)  Qui  etiam  proprio  Filio  suo  non  pepercit.  (Rom.  viii.  32.) 

J  Matth.  xxviii.  19,  20.) 

§  Q.'ii  vero  non  crediderit,  condemnabitur.  (Mark  xvi.  16.) 


106          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

wounds  and  strengthening  the  weakness  of  the  heart,  by 
giving  him  a  new  life. 

We  shall  examine  elsewhere,*  the  admirable  constitution 
of  the  evangelical  ministry,  and  the  wonderful  efficacy  of  the 
remedies  that  its  founder  bestowed  upon  it  for  the  salvation 
of  the  human  race. 

Let  us  now  stop  at  these  general  facts  with  regard  to 
Christianity,  facts  common  to  all  Christian  societies,  and  let 
us  put  this  question  : 

Is  Christianity  an  invention  of  man  or  of  God  ? 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

UNIFORM    CHARACTER    OF    THE    WORKS    OF    MAN. 

MAN  has  been  at  work  three  thousand  years.  What  has 
he  accomplished  ?  Nothing  that  satisfies  him,  nothing  that 
he  has  not  himself  undone.  His  creations  are  always  want- 
ing in  truth,  goodness,  and  beauty,  and  consequently  are  in- 
capable of  satisfying  his  three  great  desires  of  knowledge, 
power,  and  pleasure. 

I.  They  are  not  true.  Man  has  vainly  boasted  of  discov- 
ering that  fruitful,  universal,  fundamental  truth,  which,  shed- 
ding great  light  on  the  moral  and  physical  world,  explains 
without  difficulty  our  relations  with  God,  our  fellow-men  and 
nature,  gives  the  fundamental  reason  for  the  divine,  human 
and  material  phenomena,  and  concentrates  in  its  luminous 
unity,  religious,  social  and  natural  science.  What  has  he 
discovered  ?  Some  few  glimpses  of  truth,  so  feeble  and  so 
uncertain,  that  they  are  soon  extinguished  in  the  thick  dark- 
ness of  skepticism. 

*  In  the  Second  Problem. 


UNIFORM    WORKS    OF    MAN.  107 

Review  all  the  schools  of  philosophy,  not  Christian,  from 
the  earlier  Grecian  to  those  which  we  see  in  our  age  spring- 
ing up  and  dying  out  by  hundreds ;  may  we  not  ask  of  them, 
if  there  is  any  one  truth  whatever  to  be  recognized  among 
them  all  ?  How  many  contradictions  concerning  the  Divine 
Being !  What  profound  ignorance  of  man !  What  pitiable 
weakness  concerning  the  highest  questions  of  physical  sci- 
ence. Let  those  who  have  read  with  intelligent  eyes  the  in- 
numerable geological  and  physical  systems  of  all  ages,  tell  us 
if  they  have  not  believed  themselves  listening  to  a  circle  of 
Hottentots,  reasoning  on  the  construction  and  motion  of  a 
watch  or  a  musical  box. 

II.  They  are  not  good.     How  can  those,  who  are  ignorant 
of  the  origin  and  destiny  of  man,  conduct  him  to  happiness ! 
Aside  from  some  beautiful  maxims  of  morality  taken  from 
ancient  tradition,  how  much  that  is  vile  is  to  be  found  even 
in  the  divine  Plato.     How  much  disgraceful  groping  in  the 
judicious  author  of  the  Tusculan  questions!     What  stoical 
pedantry  in  the  would-be  Christian  Seneca!     We  do  not 
speak  of  the  moralists  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  saw 
no  other  difference  than  that  of  habit  between  man  and  his  dog. 

Domestic  and  public  social  life  being  necessarily  only  the 
realization  of  religious  and  moral  doctrines,  we  can  form  an 
idea  of  what  this  was,  and  what  it  still  is  among  nations  of 
human  training.  Wo  to  the  weak !  Is  the  cry  which  rises 
from  all  families  and  all  classes  of  society. 

III.  They  are  not  beautiful.     We  will  not  dispute  with  the 
human  mind  its  progress  in  the  useful  and  agreeable  arts, 
although  it  has  been  historically  demonstrated  that  the  great 
achievements  and  inventions  in  the  department  of  the  beauti- 
ful, must  be  referred  back  to  the  religious  ages;  but  disgust 
to  life  has  always  been  in  proportion  to  the  efforts  man  has 
made  to  embellish  his  terrestrial  existence  and  multiply  its 
enjoyments.     Suicide  proves  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 


103  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Finally,  falseness  and  incoherence,  poverty  and  misery, 
weariness  and  disgust,  are  the  invariable  results  of  the  works 
of  man.  To  say  that  such  an  artizan  has  constructed  Chris- 
tianity, is  like  asserting  that  five  or  six  Hurons,  taken  to  Rome 
as  a  spectacle,  built  the  Basilica  of  St.  Peter,  sculptured  the 
Apollo  Belvidere,  painted  the  Transfiguration  of  Raphael 
and  the  galleries  of  the  Vatican. 

What  in  fact  is  Christianity  ?  It  is  truth  without  error, 
goodness,  without  a  mixture  of  evil,  and  beauty  without 
defect ;  all  three  however  temporarily  concealed  by  the  veil 
of  faith.  It  has  enlightened  the  world,  and  procured  for  it 
all  the  blessings  and  enjoyments  compatible  with  our  state 
of  trial.  Is  it  not  obvious  from  this,  that  it  is  the  creation  or 
rather  the  reflection  of  Him  who  is  the  All-True,  the  All- 
Good,  the  All- Beautiful ! 

But  this  must  be  proved,  for  ignorance  will  not  credit  it, 
and  ignorance  in  matters  of  religion  is  more  common  than  is 
generally  believed. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

SUMMARY    PROOF    OF    THE    TRUTH    AND    DIVINITY    OF 
CHRISTIANITY. 

FOR  eighteen  centuries  Christianity  has  shown  itself  to 
man  in  every  aspect,  fearing  nothing  so  much  as  not  to  be 
known.*  Declaring  deadly  war  as  it  has  done  upon  all  the 
bad  passions,  it  could  not  fail  powerfully  to  excite  human  cu- 
riosity. No  doctrine  has  ever  been  examined  with  more  care, 
or  been  combatted  with  more  power  and  variety  of  means. 

Pagan  Rome  armed  against  it,  during  three  centuries,  her 

*  Unumgestitinterdum.neignoratadamnetur.  (Tertull.  Jlpologet.  I.) 


SUMMARY    PROOF    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  109 

sophists,  magistrates  and  executioners.  Rome  having  pros- 
trated herself  with  her  emperors  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  heresy 
at  first  insolently  raised  its  head,  and  successively  attacked 
every  dogma.  Supported  by  sovereign  power,  she  also  united 
the  sword  to  sophistry.  Yet  heresy  slept  during  the  middle 
ages  ?  The  Rationalism  of  the  university  succeeded  to  it  and 
submitted  all  truths  to  the  hammer  of  logic.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  battle  was  fought  at  the  very  foundations  of 
Christian  society,  and  Protestantism  made  the  strongest  effort 
to  uproot  this  mighty  tree. 

Finally,  the  philosophy  of  the  last  century,  concentrating 
in  the  heart  of  its  leader,  all  its  hatred  against  the  religion  of 
Christ,  commenced  the  most  skilful,  general,  long  and  furious 
attack  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  Theology,  philosophy, 
jurisprudence,  history,  chronology,  archeology,  geography, 
philology,  literature,  natural  philosophy,  mathematics,  astro- 
nomy, geology,  chemistry,  and  even  the  fine  arts,  were  all 
arrayed  against  the  so-called  work  of  fanaticism  and  super- 
stition. Reasoning,  discussion,  ridicule,  calumny,  raillery 
and  insult  were  employed.  Whatever  was  most  specious  in 
science  and  erudition,  most  seducing  in  elegance,  most  wither- 
ing in  satire,  most  low  and  obscene  in  the  imagination  of  the 
novelist,  everything  was  simultaneously  put  in  use  to  sever 
with  eternal  contempt  and  ridicule  the  faith,  morality,  prac- 
tices, government,  institutions  and  history  of  Christianity. 

A  great  advantage  was  given  to  the  assailants,  by  the  fact 
that  the  Christian  camp  defended  by  many  brave  spirits,  num- 
bered very  few  heroes.  Her  Sampson  had  disappeared  with 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  those  who  were  to  raise  their 
clubs,  were  waiting  for  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth.  Here 
and  there  were  seen,  respectable  writers  and  learned  apo- 
logists, very  skilful  in  unveiling  a  sophism,  and  capable  of 
illustrating  truth ;  but  none  were  found  who  could  hurl  the 
thunderbolt. 

10 


110  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Material  force  lent  its  aid  to  philosophy.  The  persecuting 
decrees  of  rebellious  Parliaments  were  succeeded  by  the  spo- 
liating and  schismatic  decrees  of  the  Constituent  Assembly. 
The  Legislative  Assembly  inflicted  banishment,  then  aided  by 
an  army  of  executioners,  they  murdered,  tortured  and  dis- 
embowelled the  priests,  and  bore  their  hearts  through  the 
streets  singing ;  "  There  is  no  festival  where  hearts  are  want- 
ing"* The  Convention  came  with  the  guillotine,  the  bullet, 
the  drowning  and  hammer  of  the  destroyers.  The  Directory 
caused  the  Pope  to  die  in  chains,  sent  the  priests  to  perish  in 
Guiana,  and  pensioned  Parry  for  his  infernal  rhymes. 

What  do  we  see  now?  Paganism  has  disappeared  witL 
her  sophists  and  her  executioners.  Heresies  one  after  another 
have  been  buried  in  the  dust  with  their  doctrines  of  a  day, 
and  the  violent  edicts  of  their  propagators.  The  Rationalism 
of  the  schools  has  disappeared  in  the  void  of  its  thoughts 
and  the  clouds  of  its  logic.  Protestantism  is  dying  of  imbe- 
cility, and  sees  those  of  her  children  who  are  strong  enough 
to  resist  the  torrent  of  Naturalism,  delicate  enough  to  retreat 
before  the  mire  of  Methodism,  returning  back  to  Rome. 
The  philosophy  of  Voltaire  is  no  longer  in  fashion.  Entirely 
stupified  since  the  Jacobins  have  gorged  it  with  blood,  it  has 
retired  with  them  into  the  dens  of  masonry.  Its  present 
occupation  is  to  exhume  from  the  literary  rubbish  of  the  last 
century,  some  vile  fragments  of  irreligion  and  obscenitj1,  to 
rave  in  low  journals  against  the  party  of  the  priesthood,  and 
to  lie  in  wait  in  the  street  for  an  opportunity  to  break  a  cross, 
or  plunder  a  church. 

Christianity  stands  erect  in  the  midst  of  the  tombs  of  its 
enemies,  with  its  doctrines,  its  annals,  its  worship,  its  inde- 
structible constitution.  It  is  seated  in  the  high  places  of  our 
capitals,  and  displaying  boldly  its  sacred  books  over  which 
the  ink  of  heresy  and  phlosophy  has  flowed  in  torrents  with- 

*  See  Chateaubriand,  Genie  du  Christianisme,  liv.  iv.  ch.  8. 


CHARACTER   OF    TRUTH.  Ill 

out  effacing  a  syllable,  it  always  asks  with  its  divine  founder; 
"  Which  of  you  shall  convict  me  of  sin?"*  and  in  the 
immense  and  learned  audience  which  throngs  Notre  Dame 
and  Saint  Sulpice,  not  a  man  dares  to  accept  the  challenge. 

We  must  then  agree  that  Christianity  is  faultless ;  for  if  it 
contained  an  error,  it  has  excited  the  human  mind  too  much 
to  allow  it  to  escape  detection,  it  has  dealt  too  hardly  with 
the  passions  to  be  pardoned. 

It  is  in  vain  that  man  and  time  are  leagued  together  to 
destroy  it :  it  is  then  neither  the  work  of  man  nor  of  time. 

But  let  us  enter  into  some  details. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

CHARACTER    OF    TRUTH. 

THE  characteristic  of  truth  is  its  harmony  with  itself  and 
with  all  that  is,  for  a  very  simple  reason,  but  one  that  is  little 
comprehended,  that  truth  is  that  which  is. 

Now  Christianity  possesses,  in  an  eminent  degree  this  cha- 
racteristic of  truth.  Harmonious  in  itself,  it  harmonizes  with 
everything  else.  Nothing  is  foreign  to  it.  It  is  the  central 
truth  around  which  other  truths  must  revolve  under  penalty 
of  becoming  false  ;  •{•  it  is  the  universal  phenomenon  which 
alone  explains  other  phenomena.  Let  us  proceed  to  show 
the  intrinsic  harmony  of  the  Christian  system. 

*  Quis  ex  vobis  arguet  me  de  peccato  ?  (John  viii.  46.) 
•(•  Error  is  nothing  and  can  be  nothing  but  a  truth  displaced,  detach- 
ed from  its  principle,  erratic. 


112  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

DIVINITY    OF    THE    BIBLE,    PROVED    BY    ITS    UNITY. 

THE  Bible,  as  every  one  knows,  is  the  great  depository  o) 
the  Christian  doctrines.  The  most  eloquent  pens,  even  among 
skeptics,  have  celebrated  the  divine  power  which  shines  forth 
from  this  wonderful  book,  that  has  conquered  the  world  by 
condemning  the  world.* 

One  man,  overwhelmed  by  the  majesty  of  the  Scriptures, 
concludes  that  the  inventor  of  the  Gospel  would  be  more  re- 
markable than  its  hero.]- 

Another  asks,  from  whence  does  the  Bible  receive  that  in- 
exhaustible wealth  of  knowledge  and  feeling  which  prevents 
us  from  ever  being  weary  of  reading  it ;  and  the  charm  which 
increases  as  we  read  it  again,  while  the  most  beautiful  books 
that  come  forth  from  the  hand  of  man,  lose  their  interest  in 
proportion  as  we  study  them.  J 

The  latter  asks  how  the  sacred  writers  have  freed  them- 
selves from  all  narrow  egotism,  and  are  only  animated  with 
the  desire  of  glorifying  God  and  instructing  men  ;  how  they 
have  chosen  expressions  so  simple  and  popular,  when  an- 
nouncing such  sublime  and  magnificent  facts  concerning  the 
Divine  Being.  "  Certainly,"  adds  he,  "  if  these  learned  men 
were  like  others,  they  would  express  themselves  more  nobly, 
having  minds  adequate  to  the  comprehension  of  things  so  great, 
or  their  thoughts  would  be  more  common,  not  having  minds 
capable  of  expressing  themselves  in  a  more  elevated  manner."§ 

*  La  Harpe,  Discours  sur  FEsprit  dfs  Livres  Saints. 
\  J.  J.  Rousseau. 

{  Bogue,  Essai  sur  la  divine  autoriti  du  JVouveau  Testament, 
ch.  ii.  sect.  v. 
§  Abbadie,  Traiti  de  la  veril&de  la  Religion  chrttienne,  sec.  iii.  ch.  2 


DIVINITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  113 

The  former  is  astonished  that  in  the  same  books,  where  the 
highest  and  purest  ideas  of  the  Divinity  are  found  without  any 
alloy,  in  books  filled  with  the  most  profound  reverence  for 
God,  and  the  most  religious  fear  of  God,  the  Most  High  is 
represented  as  treating  man  like  a  friend,  entering  into  dis- 
cussion with  him  as  with  an  equal,  and  yet  the  veneration  and 
submission  of  man  are  never  weakened  by  so  extraordinary  an 
intercourse;  "  This  is  for  me,"  he  says,  "a  moral  demonstra- 
tion of  the  Divine  inspiration,  and  should  be,  for  every  man 
of  sense  and  sincerity,  at  least  a  subject  of  examination  and 
reflection."  * 

Another  is  justly  struck  with  the  astonishing  difference  of 
style  which  prevails  in  the  two  Testaments,  and  discovers  in 
them  a  naturally  divine  harmony  between  the  language  and 
the  facts.f  But  among  all  the  characteristics  of  a  super- 
human origin  which  the  Bible  presents,  there  is  none  more 
manifest  than  its  unity. 

The  Bible  is  composed  of  seventy-two  books,  by  nearly 
forty  different  authors,  the  first  of  whom  preceded  the  last  by 
at  least  fifteen  centuries.  These  writers  widely  separated 
from  each  other  by  time,  place,  and  condition ;  some  reared 

*  La  Harpe,  Discourse  quoted  above. 

\  In  the  prophets  there  is  something  ardent  and  impassioned,  as  it 
were  a  laboring  with  desire  to  attain  a  good  which  they  do  not  possess, 
and  after  which  all  their  soul  aspires :  they  invoke  it  in  the  accents  of 
love  and  hope  ;  they  demand  of  the  future  what  is  to  save  the  world  ; 
they  soar  above  to  seek  it;  they  ascend  to  the  highest  heaven  where 
the  Most  High  dwells  ...  In  the  gospel,  there  is  the  calmness  of  pos- 
session, the  rapturous  peace  which  follows  a  vast  desire  satisfied,  the 
tranquil  serenity  of  heaven  itself  .  .  .  Take  any  man  whatever :  let 
him  relate  that  event,  so  long  the  object  of  all  desires,  the  impenetrable 
mystery  of  mercy  and  justice;  his  language  will  be  imposing,  sublime, 
and  affecting.  Read  the  gospel:  "  At  this  time  there  went  forth  a  de- 
cree from  Cesar  Augustus,  &c."  (Luke  ii.  1  )  Lamennais ;  Essai  sur 
^Indifference,  ch.  xxxii. 

10* 


114  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

in  the  palaces  of  kings,  others  in  the  courts  of  a  temple, 
others  in  the  cabin  of  a  shepherd  or  a  fisherman,  have  chosen 
the  most  vast  and  elevated  subjects  that  can  be  presented  to 
human  thought,  God,  man,  the  universe ;  but  each  has  treated 
it  under  a  different  point  of  view,  and  in  a  manner  peculiar  to 
himself. 

Some,  occupying  themselves  with  the  past  and  the  present, 
have  related  in  general  or  particular  narratives,  Divine  and 
human  actions ;  others,  penetrating  into  the  future,  have  an- 
nounced the  designs  of  God  concerning  the  children  of  men, 
and  foretold  the  destinies  of  nations  and  individuals.  The 
latter  have  sung  in  poetry  of  consummate  beauty,*  the  great- 
ness of  God  and  the  misery  of  man.  The  former  have  given 
rules  of  conduct,  for  all  conditions,  ages,  and  circumstances 
of  life.  The  same  author  often  appears  as  historian,  poet, 
prophet  and  moralist. 

And  yet  in  this  immense  body  of  facts  collected  by  so 
many  pens,  in  this  world  of  thought  and  feeling  proceeding 
from  such  a  variety  of  minds,  criticism  the  most  minute,  and 
often  the  most  malevolent,  has  been  seeking,  for  eighteen 
hundred  years  in  vain,  for  a  single  contradiction.  More  than 
once  the  skeptic  has  flattered  himself  that  he  could  convict 
our  sacred  Books  of  discrepancies  and  falsehood ;  more  than 
once  the  learned  and  pious  interpreter  has  been  alarmed  by 
certain  apparent  incongruities :  but  a  more  extensive  and  pro- 
found examination  of  the  sacred  text  has  destroyed  the  triumph 
of  the  one  and  the  terror  of  the  other,  and  nothing  has  as 
yet  been  demonstrated  but  the  ignorance  of  the  censors  of 
the  Bible. 

*  The  most  distinguished  scholar  of  modern  times  has  said  that  "  true 
poets  will  certainly  never  dispute  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  palm  of 
poetic  genius,"  and  he  has  sufficiently  proved  it,  (La  Harpc,  Discours 
sur  VEsprit  des  Livrcs  saints,  2e.  part.  Dr.  South  has  demonstrated 
the  same  proposition  in  his  beautiful  book,  DC  Sacra  pocsi  Hcbrccorum. 


DIVINITY    OF    THE    BIBLE.  115 

This  perfect  harmony  of  the  sacred  writers  is  a  phenomenon 
humanly  inexplicable.  Would  you,  in  order  to  explain  it, 
diminish  the  number  of  sacred  authors  ?  Will  you  say  with 
Voltaire,  that  three  quarters  at  least  of  the  Old  Testament 
are  the  work  of  Edras,  and  does  not  go  back  farther  than  the 
captivity  of  Babylon.  Besides  the  absurdities  you  will  be 
obliged  to  accept  by  contradicting,  on  so  fundamental  a  point 
the  common  fault  of  the  Jews  and  Samaritans ;  *  besides  the 
manifest  violence  done  to  the  first  laws  of  criticism,  by  at- 
tributing to  the  same  author  several  productions  so  very  unlike, 
whom  could  you  persuade  that,  of  all  known  writers,  Esdras 
alone  has  escaped  the  anathema  which  falls  upon  every  pro- 
lific pen  :  Errors  are  proportioned  to  the  number  of  writings  1  \ 

Will  it  be  said  that  there  was  concert  among  these  writers, 
and  that  the  last  in  the  order  of  time  have  blindly  followed 
the  first?  Their  number,  their  distance  in  the  scale  of  time 
and  society,  their  evident  character  of  originality,  and  the 
diversity  of  matters  they  treat,  preclude  necessarily  all  idea 
of  collusion.  Besides  how  are  we  to  explain  in  these  men  a 
self  renunciation  so  entire,  as  to  allow  them  to  place  them- 
selves in  the  train  of  each  other.  How  could  they  have  suf- 
ficiently understood  each  other  not  to  clash  in  anything,  when 
among  the  innumerable  commentators  they  have  had,  we  do 
not  find  two  who  agree  in  every  thing,  and  not  one  who  does 
not  contradict  himself. 

*  The  powerful  antagonism  which  always  prevailed  between  the  Jews 
properly  so  called,  and  the  tribes  which,  under  Roboam,  formed  the 
kingdom  of  Samaria,  evidently  proves  that  the  five  books  of  Moses,  the 
only  ones  which  the  Samaritans  receive,  are  anterior  to  the  schism  of 
the  ten  tribes,  and  go  back  consequently  to  more  than  ten  centuries  be- 
fore the  captivity  of  Babylon.  We  find,  in  the  19th  volume  of  the 
Annales  des  Voyages,  a  curious  dissertation  of  M.  Sylvestre  de  Sacy, 
upon  the  Pentateuqued.es  Samaritains,  and  the  remains  of  that  pecu- 
liar nation.  (See  Annales  de  Philosophic  Chretienne,  &c.  t.  iv.  p.  241.) 

t  In  multiloquio  non  deerit  peccatum.  (Prov.  x.  19.) 


116  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Whatever  attempt  may  be  made  to  explain  away  this  nv 
racle,  it  will  return  as  soon  as  it  is  rejected.     There  is  bu 
one  possible  explanation  :   The  Bible  is  the  work  of  one  arm 
the  same  Spirit,  employing  in  succession  forty  different  scribes, 
and  dictating  to  each  whatever  it  sees  jit.* 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

DIVIXE    HARMONY    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN    SYSTEM    COXSIDERD 
IX    ITSELF. 

THE  attentive  reader  must  have  already  observed  that  all 
the  Christian  doctrines  which  have  hitherto  been  explained 
are  naturally  linked  together.  A  single  article  cannot  be 
taken  away  without  disturbing  the  others. 

The  Bible  shows  us,  in  the  first  place,  God  drawing  the 
universe  from  nothing.  To  give  a  head  to  the  material  uni- 
verse, he  created  man  in  his  own  image  and  likeness.  These 
expressions  and  the  complacency  with  which  he  fashions  this 
work,  announce  to  us  the  nobility  of  the  youngest  of  created 
beings,  and  the  high  destiny  which  awaits  him. 

Man  must  be  tested,  before  God  can  say  to  him  :  "  I  recog- 
nize thee  for  my  son,  come,  share  my  throne."  The  leader 
of  the  rebellion  which  had  before  taken  place  among  the  elder 
members  of  the  family,  creeps  into  Eden.  Woman  seduced, 
leads  man  astray.  Sin  begins  its  work  of  ignominy  and 
death.f  God  intervenes,  and  in  the  twenty-four  verses  of  the 
third  chapter  of  Genesis,  is  found  the  reason  for  all  the  divine 
and  human  facts  which  will  succeed  each  other  until  the  "  It 

*  Haec  autem  omnia  operatur  unus  atque  idem  Spiritus,  dividens  sin 
gulis  prout  vult  (I.  Cor.  xii.  11.) 

t  Et  aperti  sunt  oculi  amborum,  &c.  (Gen.  iii.  9.) 


DIVINE    HARMONY.  117 


is  finished"  of  Calvary,  and  from  thence  onward,  until  these 
words  which  will  close  the  series  of  ages :  "  Come  ye  blessed 
of  my  Father,  &c. ;  go  ye  cursed  into  everlasting  fire,"  &c. 

In  this  we  see  the  extreme  perversity  of  Satan,  and  the 
fatal,  though  divinely  restrained  influence  which  he  has 
acquired  over  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.*  We  see  in  it 
the  incredible  weakness  of  man  and  the  ruinous  action  of  sin. 
We  see  the  flaming  sword  of  God's  justice^  shining,  and  the 
light  of  his  infinite  compassion  dawriing.j 

Man  being  far  from  God,  and  God  being  occupied  with 
bringing  him  back  to  himself,  everything  in  the  progress  of  hu- 
manity and  in  the  divine  government,  is  co-ordinate  with  these 
two  principles  of  degradation  and  restoration.  On  one  side 
the  progress  of  error  and  crime ;  on  the  other  an  always 
increasing  manifestation  of  light  and  holiness,  until  the 
uncreated  light  and  the  Holiest  of  the  Holy,  assumed  hu- 
manity and  ushered  in  the  great  day. 

Then  God  becomes  better  known ;  at  first  in  his  essence, 
The  divine  personalities  hardly  seen  in  the  act  of  creation, 
which  was  common  to  all  three  §  are  clearly  revealed  in  the 
work  of  the  redemption,  by  a  distinct  action.  God  is  better 
known  in  his  works  and  his  designs  concerning  the  children 
of  men.  His  partiality  towards  the  Jews  in  the  government 
of  the  world,  the  singularity  of  the  laws  and  destinies  of  this 
people  is  explained.  The  implacable  enmity  of  God  againsf 
sin,  his  unspeakable  compassion  for  the  sinner,  before  mani- 
fested by  so  many  chastisements  and  so  many  favors,  were 
exhibited  with  amazing  power  on  Calvary. 

Man  also  must  know  himself.  He  has  often  asked  this 
question  without  being  able  to  resolve  it ;  "  WHAT  AM  1  ?  ' 

*  Et  tu  insidiaberis  calcaneo  ejus.  (Gen.  iii.  ]5.) 
f  Flammeum  gladium.  (Gen.  iii.  24.) 
\  Inimicitias  ponain.  (Gen.  iii.  15.) 
§  Faciamus  honinem,  &c.  (Gen.  i.  26.) 


118          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Pilate  when  he  presented  Jesus  to  him,  in  the  lowest  degree 
of  degradation  and  about  to  suffer  the  most  cruel  death, 
answered  him ;  "  Behold  what  thou  art  and  what  thou  merit- 
est."  The  crucified  One,  having  come  forth  from  the  tomb, 
and  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  in  the  midst  of 
his  glory,  said  to  him  also :  "  Behold  what  thou  canst  become, 
if  thou  consentest  to  follow  me."  Can  he  still  say  that  he 
has  seen  neither  heaven  which  is  promised  to  him,  nor  hell 
with  which  he  is  threatened  ?  The  cross  is  before  him  to  aid 
him  in  measuring  with  perfect  exactness  the  infinite  height  of 
the  throne  promised  to  his  obedience,  and  the  no  less  deep 
dungeons  destined  for  the  punishment  of  his  rebellion. 

The  admirable  harmony  which  exists  between  the  dogmas 
and  facts  of  Christianity,  (for  Christianity  is  entirely  historical) 
exists  also  between  its  dogmas  and  its  morality,  and  leads 
back  all  parts  of  the  latter  to  unity.  The  moral  precepts 
come  forth  from  the  doctrine,  as  branches  from  their  trunk, 
and  among  all  its  shoots  not  one  parasite  is  found. 

Since  union  with  God  is  our  final  end,  it  is  natural  that  our 
intellect  should  be  united  to  the  thoughts  of  the  divine  intel- 
lect by  faith,  and  that  our  heart  should  be  drawn  towards  the 
superior  good,  by  hope  and  love.  Charity,  who  when  the 
clear  view  and  possession  of  God  shall  have  taken  the  place 
of  Faith  and  Hope  must  be  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
Decalogue,  will  alone  survive  her  two  elder  sisters :  hence  all 
the  prescriptions  of  the  latter  turn  upon  the  love  of  God  and 
our  neighbor,  and  in  the  infinity  of  moral  sentences  which  the 
Bible  contains,  there  is  not  one  which  does  not  tend  to 
detach  man  from  the  earth,  and  make  him  walk  in  peace 
towards  God.* 

Morality  in  the  new  law,  follows  in  exact  proportion  the 
developments  of  the  doctrine.  The  evangelical  counsels 

*  Plenitude  ergo  legis  est  dilectio.  (Rom.  xiii.  10.) 


DIVINE    HARMONY.  119 

themselves  are  not  an  innovation,  but  the  perfection  of  the 
ancient  precepts :  "  Think  not,"  said  Jesus  Christ,  "  that  1 
come  to  do  away  with  the  law  or  the  prophets :  far  from  that, 
I  come  to  fulfil  them" * 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

CONTINUATION. OTHER    INTERNAL    PROOFS    OF   THE    DIVINE 

ORIGIN    OF   THE    CHRISTIAN    SYSTEM. 

I  WOULD  ask  again  of  every  man  of  sense,  if  such  a  har- 
mony in  the  combination  of  the  most  vast  and  profound  sys- 
tem, among  writers  pursuing  their  labors  at  so  great  a  dis- 
tance from  each  other,  is  not  the  greatest  prodigy  of  the 
moral  order? 

The  world  has  never  yet  seen  two  philosophers  coming 
forth  from  the  same  school,  laboring  side  by  side  upon  the 
same  subject  who  have  written  two  pages  which  do  not  con- 
tradict each  other.  Still  farther,  among  the  number  of  great 
writers,  there  are  few  who  are  constantly  faithful  to  their 
principles,  and  he  is  always  the  most  logical  who  has  the 
fewest  contradictions.  And  here  are  forty,  who,  without  the 
intervention  of  God,  have  had  marvellous  skill  in  composing 
an  immense  collection  of  histories  and  poetry,  and  of  moral 
and  dogmatic  philosophy,  in  which  the  human  mind  for  nearly 
two  thousand  years  has  vainly  been  seeking  to  detect  an 
error !  But  this  is  the  Basilica  of  the  Vatican,  this  is  Rome 
with  its  master-pieces  of  art,  built  by  some  Hurons  equipped 
with  their  modern  hatchets  and  their  knives  of  stone,  and 
each  working  apart. 

Among  a  thousand  proofs  of  the  divine  assistance,  see  how 

*  Matth  v.  17. 


120  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

successfully  the  sacred  writers  have  constantly  avoided  the 
numerous  rocks,  against  which  all  human  logic  lias  been 
wrecked.  They  everywhere  show  us  God  as  the  Universal 
Being,  He  who  alone  is,  without  falling  in  a  single  instance  into 
pantheism.  It  is  God  who  effects  all  things  in  us,  who  gives 
life  and  motion  both  to  our  organs  and  to  our  superior  facul- 
ties :  there  is  no  good  thought,  no  right  intention  that  does  not 
come  from  Him  ;  *  and  yet  human  liberty  is  entirely  preserved. 

Philosophy  has  never  been  able  to  address  man  in  language 
adapted  to  his  wants.  Sometimes  it  swells  his  pride,  and  leads 
him  into  presumption  by  the  exaggerated  praises  and  the  too 
good  opinion  that  it  gives  him  of  himself,  sometimes  it  debases 
and  disgusts  him  by  the  sternness  and  bitterness  of  its  cen- 
sures. The  Bible,  on  the  contrary,  shows  man  his  excessive 
weakness,  and  his  extreme  corruption,  but  always  without 
despising,  degrading  or  crushing  him.  If  it  humbles  him 
so  far  as  to  recognize  that  of  himself  he  is  nothing,  it  is  in 
order  to  raise  him  to  God.  In  fact  it  describes  us  as  we  are, 
escaped  from  nonentity  and  destined  to  reign  in  heaven. 

In  its  morality  there  is  no  exaggeration.  If  in  some  places 
counsels  seem  confounded  with  precepts,  in  others  they  are 
carefully  distinguished. 

In  the  deadly  war  which  the  Gospel  wages  against  pride, 
it  would  have  been  natural  that  it  should  seek  to  crush  hu- 
man personality  as  the  sophists  of  India  and  the  Christian 
Quietists  have  done.  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  thy  whole  heart,  with  thy  whole  soul,  and  with  thy 
whole  mind  : "  f  does  this  first  precept  leave  room  for  the  love 

•  In  ipso  enim  vivimus,  et  movemur,  etsumus.  (Acts  xvii.  28.)  Non 
quod  sufficientes  simus  cogitare  aliquid  a  nobis,  &c.  (II.  Cor.  iii.  5.) 
Deus  est  enim,  qui  operatur  in  vobis  et  vclle,  et  perficire,  pro  bona 
voluntate.  (Philipp.  ii.  13.) 

t  This  precept  which  includes  all  Christian  morality,  is  in  itself  a 
true  miracle.  It  commands  in  truth,  the  most  just  and  legitimate  sen- 


HARMONY    OF    CHRISTIANITY    WITH    MAN.       121 


of  self?  docs  it  not  annihilate  all  self-seeking?  Besides  it 
contains  the  dogma  which  teaches  that  man,  having  received 
everything  from  God,  and  possessing  in  his  own  right  only 
nonentity,  must  forget  himself  totally  in  order  to  love  God 
alone.  Yet  the  Evangelists  avoid  this  logically  inevitable 
sophism,  and  they  sanctify  that  legitimate  source  of  self-love 
which  the  Creator  has  placed  within  us  by  subjecting  it  to 
divine  love.  While  they  exhort  us  to  love  God  on  account 
of  his  unspeakable  goodness,  they  still  more  frequently  invite 
us  to  it  by  the  allurement  of  the  celestial  rewards. 

Tell  me  who  has  prevented  the  fishermen  of  Nazareth  from 
falling  upon  that  keen  edged  blade,  against  which  the  swan 
of  Cambray  stumbled  and  the  eagle  of  Meaux  wavered! 
Where  shall  we  find  God  if  not  here. 

Let  us  pass  on  to  the  external  harmony  of  Christianity. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

PROFOUND    HARMONY    OF    CHRISTIANITY    WITH    MAX. THE 

ONLY    SOURCE    OF    INCREDULITY. 

WE  have  already  shown  that  Christianity  is  in  wonderful 
harmony  with  man.  What  we  have  laid  down  in  regard  to 
its  doctrine  concerning  the  origin  and  destiny  of  man,  has 
been  drawn  less  from  the  Bible  than  from  the  depths  of  our 
nature. 

There  is  not  a  principle  of  reason  which  is  not  allied  to  a 

thnents  for  (what  is  more  worthy  of  love  than  God  !)  but  this  sentiment 
is  at  the  same  time  the  most  extraordinary,  the  most  foreign  to  the 
heart  of  man,  (what  is  less  loved  than  God !)  It  is  not  man  who  pro- 
cribed  this. 

*  I.  Peter  ii.  11. 

11 


122  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

religious  truth ;  there  is  not  a  fibre  in  our  heart,  which  doc? 
not  send  forth  a  Christian  sound,  when  touched  by  a  skilful 
hand. 

The  most  profound  mysteries  of  religion  find  their  impress 
in  us.  We  cannot  reject  them  without  denying  ourselves. 

The  sin  of  Adam  lives  yet  in  the  human  heart,  and  inces- 
santly foments  in  it  the  conspiracy  of  the  flesh  against  the  spirit. 

The  divine  Trinity  is  faithfully  reproduced  in  the  three 
faculties,  really  distinct  from  each  other,  which  compose  the 
indivisible  unity  of  the  Soul !  * 

The  existence  of  the  God-man,  that  is  to  say,  the  union  of 
a  divine  person  with  our  nature,  finds  its  analegy  in  the  no 
less  mysterious  union  of  the  soul  with  the  body,  which  pro- 
duces also  the  intelligent  animal. 

We  may  well  say  to  unbelievers,  with  the  prophet :  "  Oh 
Fools,  who  cannot  believe,  retnrn  to  your  own  hearts." 

Man  is  naturally  a  Christian.  It  is  also  a  very  remarkable 
fact,  but  established  by  innumerable  experiments  that  unbe- 
lievers to  whom  the  Christian  creed  is  proposed  for  the  first 
time,  admit  it  with  extreme  facility.  Those  mysteries  which 
our  triflers  esteem  so  revolting  to  their  reason  appear  to  them 
so  natural,  that  they  do  not  even  demand  the  proof  of  them. 
It  is  only  when  the  painful  and  austere  theory  of  duty  is  pre- 
sented to  them,  that  they  recoil,  and  even  then  they  will  render 
homage  to  the  evangelical  doctrine.  Your  religion  is  beauti- 
ful, and  good,  and  of  more  value  than  ours  ;  but  "  the  stomach 

*  For  the  phychologically — human  trinity,  composed  hitherto  of 
thoughts  or  of  being,  of  knoicledge  and  of  love,  a  contemporaneous 
thinker  has  judged  it  advisable  to  substitute  sentiment,  imagination, 
and  reason,  (La  Thiorle  de  l\/lme,  &c.,  by  J.  C.  Docteur,  published  at 
first  at  Nancy,  and  re-printed  at  Moutiers,  1841.)  The  arrogant  tone 
of  the  author  and  certain  extravagant  assertions  might  give  offence  ;  but 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  his  sentiment  presents,  with  all  tlje  treasures 
of  a  brilliant  imagination,  a  great  fund  of  reason, 

f  Rcdite,  praevaricatores.,  ad  cor.  (Is.  xlyi.  8.) 


REALITY    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  123 


must  be  filled,"  answers  the  gluttonous  Brahmin  to  the  mis- 
sionary.* "  How  can  you  require  of  me  to  keep  to  otu 
wife?"  answered  the  voluptuous  Asiatic.  "How  can  yo¥ 
command  me  to  forgive  my  enemies  and  those  of  my  tribe  ?  * 
says  the  ferocious  savage. 

The  great  and  sole  enemies  of  Christianity  are  the  bad 
passions,  "  Rid  yourself  of  your  passions,  and  you  will 
believe,"  Paschal  has  said. 

Is  this  doubted  ?  When  does  faith  desert  the  heart  ? 
When  the  passions  begin  their  tumult  in  it  When  does  it 
return  ?  When  old  age  or  the  presence  of  death  restores  its 
calmness.  A  man  never  attacks  the  Creed  until  he  has  made 
a  breach  in  the  Decalogue. 

Finally,  and  this  is  decisive,  I  could  show  you  a  multitude 
of  unbelievers,  of  sound  mind,  who  became  Christians  at  the 
hour  of  death,  and  others  more  obstinate  who  at  least  hesi- 
tated. Show  me  one  Christian  who  became  an  infidel  at  this 
formidable  moment,  or  who  has  thought  of  putting  to  himself 
the  question  :  "Have  I  done  well  to  believe." 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

HISTORICAL    REALITY    OF    CHRISTIANITY. GERMAN    COMMEN- 
TATORS.  NATURALISTS. MYTHOLOGUES. — STRAUSS. 

BUT  may  not  Christianity  be  a  wisely  constructed  Utopia, 
a  romance  well  invented  to  captivate  the  mind  and  heart,  and 
which  has  no  better  pretention  to  be  true  than  that  it  is  not 
wholly  false.  Are  the  marvellous  events  upon  which  it  is 

*  This  is  the  favorite  expression  of  the  Brahmins,  a  cast  whose  ver- 
acity equals  their  duplicity,  (See  Mceurs,  Institutions  et  Cirlmonies  des 
peuples  de  Flndr,  by  M.  Dubois,  vol.  I.  p.  334.) 


124  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

founded,  ingenious  dreams,  bold  transformations  of  natura* 
facts,  which  we  owe  to  an  enthusiastic  credulity  or  to  the 
warmth  of  oriental  brains ;  or  are  they  historical  realities  ? 
In  a  word,  is  Christianity  an  Arabian  tale,  a  myth  or  a 
history  ? 

Senseless  question!  You  who  ask  it,  endeavor  to  shake 
this  historical  Colossus  which  begins  with  the  words :  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth,"  and  finishes 
with  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  a  Colossus  whose  foundation 
underlies  everywhere  at  different  depths,  the  historico — fabu- 
lous structures  of  antiquity,  and  around  which  all  modern 
history  gravitates ! 

There  are,  however,  men  to  be  met  with,  or  beings  at  least 
who  call  themselves  such,  who  have  not  shrunk  from  this 
more  than  Titanic  enterprize.  I  will  say  nothing  of  the  de- 
ceased M.  Dupuis  and  his  entirely  deceased  extravagances. 
Peace  to  buried  absurdities  so  long  as  we  have  living  ones ! 

I  wish  to  speak  of  the  German  Commentators,  some  of 
them  naturalists,  and  others  mythologues,  who  see  nothing  in 
the  Bible  but  natural  facts  in  oriental  clothing,  or  learned  myths. 

According  to  the  former,  nothing  is  more  simple  than  the 
recital  of  the  sacred  writers,  even  in  the  most  extraordinary 
particulars,  when  they  are  reduced  to  their  just  value.  For 
example.  The  tree  of  good  and  evil,  about  which  so  much 
noise  has  been  made,  was  only  a  poisonous  plant,  a  tree  bear- 
ing hurtful  fruits,  probably  a  poisonous  apple-tree,  under  the 
shade  of  which  the  first  man  and  woman  were  so  unfortunate 
as  to  fall  asleep.  The  voice  which  sounded  on  Sinai,  in  the 
midst  of  thunders  and  lightnings  and  terrified  the  Hebrews, 
was  the  voice  of  Moses,  who  by  an  instrument  availed  him- 
self of  a  great  storm  to  harangue  his  followers.  The  fire 
which  surrounded  the  summit  of  the  mountain  for  forty  days, 
was  either  a  volcanic  eruption,  or  the  brazier  at  which  the 
skilful  legislator  warmed  his  benumbed  fingers,  while  he  was 


REALITY    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  125 

writing  his  code  of  laws.  If  his  countenance  appeared 
radiant  to  the  people,  it  was  because  he  came  out  of  a  cloud 
charged  with  electricity. 

Let  us  pass  on  to  the  New  Testament.  The  royal  magi 
with  their  offerings  were  simply  travelling  merchants,  who 
brought  some  small  copper  coins  to  the  child  at  Bethlehem. 
The  star  was  the  lantern  of  the  domestic  who  conducted 
them.  The  angels  who  ministered  to  our  Lord  after  the 
temptation  in  the  wilderness,  were  Arabs  who  were  passing 
by,  supplied  with  provisions.  When  it  is  said  that  Jesus 
walked  upon  the  sea  and  calmed  the  tempest,  it  is  to  be 
understood  that  he  swam  and  managed  a  rudder  skilfully. 
When  he  fed  the  five  hundred  in  the  wilderness,  it  must  be 
supposed  that  he  had  prepared  there,  magazines  of  provisions, 
or  that  he  politely  invited  his  audience  to  eat  the  bread  which 
each  one  had  in  his  pocket.  Would  you  know  how  he  per- 
suaded his  disciples  that  he  ascended  into  heaven  ?  He  led 
them  to  a  mountain  covered  with  thick  fog,  where,  after  some 
parting  words,  he  left  these  good  people,  and  escaped  by 
another  way.  How  did  these  imagine  that  they  had  received 
the  Holy  Spirit?  A  violent  gale  of  wind  having  rent  the 
house  where  they  were  assembled,  fear  made  them  see  the 
stars,  and  disturbed  their  brain. 

This  is  a  slight  specimen  of  the  ingenious  subtleties,  by 
which  the  naturalistic  theologians  of  Germany  have  succeeded 
in  giving  us  a  sacred  history,  a  Bible,  without  God,  without 
angels,  without  devils,  and  without  miracles.* 

*  He  who  wishes  to  form  an  idea  of  the  principles  of  the  Naturalistic 
interpretation,  without  being  condemned  to  read  the  long  and  weari- 
some productions  of  Gabler,  Bauer,  Daub,  Semler,  Griesbach,  Weg- 
scheider,  &c.,  may  satisfy  himself  by  reading  the  Preface  and  the 
Observations,  with  which  Christopher  Frederic  Ammon  has  enriched 
the  fifth  edition,  of  the  already  very  naturalistic  work  of  the  celebrated 
Ernest! :  Institutio  Interpretis.  JVovi  Testamenti,  Leipsic,  1809. 

11* 


.  20  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Their  comrades,  the  mythologues,  ridicule  this  mode  of  dis- 
secting the  Bible,  and  think  it  more  expedient  to  see  in  the 
two  Testaments  only  a  crude  collection  of  allegorical  rhapso- 
dies, tacked  together  in  succession,  and  in  which  it  is  as  im- 
possible to  discover  historical  truth  as  in  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey 
of  Homer,  or  the  metamorphoses  of  Ovid. 

Dr.  David  Frederick  Strauss  who  had  seen  all  the  historical 
personages  of  the  Old  Testament,  from  Jehovah  to  the  last 
of  the  prophets,  fall  successively  under  the  blows  of  his  pre- 
decessors in  biblical  mythology,  wished  to  complete  so  fine 
an  undertaking,  by  giving  to  the  world  the  whole  mythology 
of  the  Gospel  in  his  Life  of  Jesus.*  The  evangelical  history 
according  to  him,  contains  nothing  really  true  but  certain 
particulars  of  the  life  and  doctrine  of  a  pretender  to  the  title 
of  Messiah,  particulars  to  which  the  disciples  of  this  impostor 
added  all  the  Scriptures  and  Jewish  traditions  afforded  them 
relative  to  the  personage  he  wished  to  represent. 

Finally,  the  naturalistic  commentators  consider  the  first 
disciples  of  Moses  and  Jesus  as  imbecile  persons,  sunk  in  the 
lowest  degree  of  idiocy ;  the  mythologues  make  them  to  be 
both  fools  and  knaves. 

The  two  systems,  as  it  will  be  seen,  have  this  advantage, 
that  they  destroy  with  one  blow,  the  disagreeable  morality 
of  the  Gospel.  It  remains  now  to  be  explained  how  fools 
and  knaves  have  been  heroic  enough  to  allow  themselves  to  be 
stoned,  burned,  crucified  and  beheaded  ;  how  they  have  been 
dexterous  enough  to  entrap  the  most  reasonable  and  enlight- 
ened classes  of  the  world,  and  in  fact  all  classes ;  how  they 
have  been  enabled  to  indoctrinate  their  first  disciples  so  tho- 
roughly, that  Ignatius  sighed  after  the  lions,  Polycarp  went 

*  Printed  at  first  in  1833,  and  re-printed  for  the  third  time  in  1S3S. 
See  a  very  remarkable  article  of  M.  Edgard  Quinet,  (Revue  dfs  Dciu: 
J\fondcs,  Dec.  1st,  1838,)  on  that  infamous  production,  and  on  the  causes 
which  have  prepared  its  introduction  upon  the  theatre  of  German 
Theology. 


REALITY   OF    CHRISTIANITY.  127 

cheerfully  to  the  funeral  pile,  Justin,  Irenaeus  and  Cyprian 
sealed  their  learned  pages  with  their  blood,  and  Tertullian 
wrote  tranquilly  his  immortal  Apology  under  the  axe  of  the 
executioner ;  how  among  the  innumerable  Christians  who 
from  the  second  century  filled  all  parts  of  the  empire  except 
the  temples  of  the  false  gods,*  there  were  found  many  mil- 
lions who  gave  themselves  up  to  death  in  order  to  sustain  the 
labors  of  these  fools  and  liars ;  in  short,  how  this  gross 
imposture  could  have  met  with  so  many  sublime  defenders, 
from  the  first  of  the  Holy  Fathers  to  the  present  time. 

"  I  see  you  are  much  embarrassed,"  replied  Strauss  ;  "  do 
you  not  know  that  the  true  interpretation  goes  no  farther  back 
than  to  Gabler  in  1792,  f  and  that  without  the  labors  of 
Eichorn,  Bauer,  Daub,  Herder,  Neander,  Hegel,  Schleier- 
macher,  De  Wette,  Vatke,  Bohlen,  Lengerke,  &c.,  reason  and 
good  sense  would  never  have  penetrated  into  Christian 
creeds!"  But  we  answer,  whoever  values  his  title  of  reason- 
able would  reply  :  "  Strauss  evidently  takes  advantage  of  the 
permission  to  rave  which  the  schools  beyond  the  Rhine  that 
have  sprung  from  the  pure  reason  of  Kant  arrogate  to  them- 
selves:" this  is  in  truth  pride  carried  to  the  transcendental 
degree  of  folly.  Among  a  people  not  wholly  brutalized,  the 
author  of  so  violent  an  outrage  upon  the  two  hundred  and 
sixty  millions  of  Christians  who  cover  the  globe,  and  the  nine 
thousand  millions  at  least  who  have  preceded  us,  instead  of 
finding  a  chain  of  theology,|  would  have  been  attached  by 
the  hand  of  the  executioner  to  the  manger  of  the  first  stable, 
with  the  leaves  of  his  book  for  a  litter,  or  put  into  a  straight 
jacket  in  an  insane  hospital. 

*  Tertullian,  Jlpologet. 

t  It  is  to  Gabler,  in  fact,  that  Strauss  traces  the  origin  of  the  myth- 
ical interpretation.  (See  Introduction,  p.  59.) 

I  Zurich  at  first  nominated  Strauss,  by  a  majority,  as  professor  ol 
dogmatic  theology.  At  the  earnest  protest  of  the  Canton,  the  election 
was  annulled.  Honor  to  the  protestors  !  Eternal  shame  to  the  electors ! 


128          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

A    WORD    CONCERNING    THE    AUTHENTICITY    AND    VERACITY 
OF   THE    MOSAIC    BOOKS. 

THE  plan  of  a  work  like  this,  does  not  permit  me  to  deve- 
lope,  or  even  to  allude  to  the  innumerable  proofs  which  carry 
the  authenticity  and  veracity  of  the  biblical  history  to  the 
highest  imaginable  degree  of  certainty, 'proofs  contained  in 
works  translated  into  all  languages,  and  which  still  await  a 
refutation.  Would  those  read  me,  who  have  not  read  the 
master-pieces  of  criticism  and  reasoning  of  Huet,  Leland, 
Abbadie,  Sherlock,  Stateer,  Hooke,  Jenyns,  Lyttleton,  Ers- 
kine,  West,  Bogue,  Houtteville,  Bergier,  Valsecchi,  Duvoisin, 
Frayssinous,  Lamennais,  and  an  infinity  of  others  ?  and  what 
importance  would  those  who  have  read  them  attach  to  my 
repetition  of  them !  I  will  limit  myself  to  a  few  reflections. 

One  word,  in  the  first  place,  concerning  the  Jewish  history, 
the  mother  of  the  evangelical  history. 

Before  thinking  of  casting  doubts  upon  the  existence  of  the 
greatest  personage  of  this  history,  Moses,  and  upon  the 
authenticity  and  veracity  of  the  five  first  books  of  the  Bible, 
common  sense  would  dictate  two  things  to  be  done  :  1st,  to 
burn,  even  to  the  last  copy,  all  the  authors  of  profane  anti- 
quity who  have  spoken  of  Moses  as  the  legislator  and  first 
historian  of  the  Jews  ;*  2d,  to  destroy  all  the  Jews  themselves. 

In  fact,  so  long  as  we  have  any  families  of  this  nation  to 
prove  that  the  Jews  are  men  made  like  others,  that  they  have 
eyes  to  see,  ears  to  hear,  minds  to  judge,  and  hearts  to  feel ; 

*  The  historian  Josephus,  in  his  books  against  Appion  ;  and  the  first 
Christian  Apologists,  Justin,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  Eusebius, 
&,c.,  cite  a  great  number  of  them.  We  have  even  in  our  own  libraries 
Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus,  Longinus,  Justin,  Juvenal.Tacitus,  Pliny,  Sic. 


THE    MOSAIC    BOOKS.  129 

that  they  have  like  ourselves  a  self-love  which  ill  brooks 
humiliations  and  unjust  preferences  ;  that  they  have  passions 
hostile  to  constraint,  it  would  be  impossible  to  believe  that  an 
impostor  could  have  been  able  to  attach  them  so  closely  to  a 
law  at  all  times  insupportable,*  and  which  for  eighteen  cen- 
turies has  covered  them  with  ignominy. 

Would  this  impostor  then,  whose  superior  talents  cannot 
be  disputed  by  one  who  reads  his  works,  have  been  so  clumsy 
as  to  disturb  the  self-love  of  those  whom  he  wished  to  de- 
ceive, by  innumerable  recitals  dishonorable  to  the  nation  in 
general,  and  to  individuals  in  particular,  and  would  he  have 
based  upon  these  narrations  the  division  of  functions  and  ter- 
ritories in  his  republic !  Could  he  have  been  so  foolish  as  to 
found  the  supreme  power,  which  he  arrogated  to  himself,  upon 
miracles  of  the  first  order,  miracles  which  he  professes  to 
have  performed  before  the  eyes  of  the  whole  people ! 

Would  that  impostor  have  dared  to  say  to  the  Jews,  that 
with  his  rod  he  had  struck  Egypt  with  ten  unheard  of  plagues ; 
that  he  had  given  them  power  to  cross  the  Red  Sea  dry  shod  ; 
that  he  had  given  them  to  drink,  water  miraculously  flowing 
from  a  rock ;  that  he  fed  them  for  forty  years  with  manna 
which  had  fallen  from  heaven ;  that  they  had  seen  Sinai 
tremble  and  burst  forth  in  flames  under  the  footsteps  of  the 
Lord,  and  that  they  had  not  been  able  to  endure  the  sound  of, 
the  voice  which  descended  from  it ;  that  at  the  foot  of  this  same 
mountain  they  had  the  folly  to  prostrate  themselves  before  a 
golden  calf;  that  they  had  seen  the  envious  rivals  of  his  broth- 
er, Core,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  swallowed  up  alive  in  the 
earth,  and  their  accomplices  consumed  by  fire  from  heaven ; 
that  God  had  punished  them  for  their  frequent  rebellion,  some- 
times by  a  sudden  mortality,  sometimes  by  the  bite  of  fiery 
serpents,  and  sometimes  by  the  sword  of  their  enemies,  &c.  ? 

*  Jugum  .  .  .  neque  patres  nostri,  neque  nos  portare  potuimus, 
(Acts  xv.  16.) 


130  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

This  is  not  all :  would  he  have  taken  these  events  as  a 
basis  for  his  religious  institutions,  and  would  most  of  the 
feasts  and  ceremonies  which  he  imposed  upon  his  subjects 
have  been  a  solemn  commemoration  of  these  enormous  im- 
postures ?  In  short,  would  he  have  concluded  this  work  of 
the  most  consummate  folly  by  these  words :  "  Your  eyes  have 
seen  all  the  great  works  of  the  Lord  that  he  hath  done."  * 

This  is  what  Moses,  or  any  other  conjurer  must  have  said, 
written  and  done,  in  the  presence  of  two  millions  of  men ;  f 
and  yet  among  so  many  families  wounded  in  their  pretensions 
and  their  pride,  among  so  many  men  whose  common  sense 
had  received  so  violent  an  insult,  no  one  raised  his  voice,  no 
one  uttered  that  cry,  then  so  legitimate,  but  afterwards  so 
criminal:  "  We  will  not  have  this  man  to  reign  over  us."  All 
submitted  with  the  docility  of  children,  blessed  the  name  of 
the  imposter,  and  preserved  with  indescribable  veneration  hia 
work.  Every  year,  during  fifteen  centuries,  we  see  them  all, 
men,  women,  and  children,  thronging  from  the  different  parts 
of  Palestine,  and  even  from  the  most  distant  regions,  to  cele- 
brate the  feasts  of  the  Passover,  of  Tabernacles  and  of 
Trumpets,  which  could  only  recal  to  them  the  arts  of  impos- 
ture. In  short,  after  eighteen  hundred  years,  this  nation, 
which  has  seen  all  other  nations  pass  awajr,  and  still  itself 
remain,  sacrificed  to  its  religion  all  that  man  holds  most 
dear,  honor  and  interest. 

I  ask    of  every    man    capable   of  reflecting,  would  not  so 

*  Oculi  vestri  viderunt  omnia  opera  Domini  magna  quse  fecit.  (Deut. 
xi.  7.) 

f  The  six  hundred  thousand  combatants  who  are  spoken  of  in  the 
Pentateuch,  require  at  least  this  proportion  of  the  general  population. 
As  for  the  rest,  to  whatever  epoch  we  may  wish  to  refer  the  int-oduction 
of  the  law  among  the  Jews,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  confess  that  this  law 
presupposes  a  numerous  people. 

}  Luke  xix.  14. 


PROPHETIC    BOOKS.  131 

much  effrontery  on  one  side,  and  so  much  stupidity  on  the 
other,  be  a  prodigy  a  thousand  times  more  incredible  than  all 
the  prodigies  of  the  old  and  new  Testament!  Skeptics,  who 
are  forced  to  admit  the  first,  at  least  acknowledge  that  if  you 
do  not  believe  the  others,  it  is  not  because  you  are  wanting 
in  credulity. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

PROPHETIC   BOOKS. THEIR  AUTHENTICITY. ANSWER   TO   AN 

OBJECTION. 

THE  evangelical  history,  among  other  peculiarities,  has 
this  remarkable  one,  that  it  was  written  many  years  before 
the  birth  of  its  hero.  The  person  and  the  office  of  the  Mes- 
siah, so  vague  in  the  revelations  made  to  the  patriarchs,  is 
sketched  and  developed  with  a  continually  increasing  pre- 
cision under  the  pen  of  David  and  the  sixteen  prophets,  the 
last  of  whom,  Malachi,  wrote  more  than  three  hundred  years 
before  the  Christian  era. 

This  son  of  the  woman,  promised  to  Adam,*  is  the  son  of 
God  himself,  uniting  the  greatness  of  Jehovah  with  the  weak- 
ness of  humanity,f  seated  on  high  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father,  and  trampled  under  foot  by  the  populace  of  Jerusa- 
lem as  a  worm  of  the  dust.|  Not  only  we  find  in  this  his- 
tory the  principal  circumstances  of  his  life  and  death,  and  the 
immense  revolution  which  they  produced,  but  even  the  least 
particulars  concerning  them,  as  the  year  and  place  of  his 
birth,  his  entrance  into  Jerusalem  on  an  ass,  the  treachery  of 
his  disciple,  the  reward  which  he  obtained  from  it,  the  em- 
ployment of  this  sum,  the  gall  and  vinegar  he  drank,  the 

*  Gen.  iii.  15.    f  Jer-  xxiii.  5,  6. — xxxiii.  15,  16.    {  Ps.  xxi. — cix. 


132  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

piercing  of  his  feet  and  hands,  the  dividing  his  garments,  the 
lot  cast  for  his  coat,  &c. 

What  is  really  very  annoying  to  the  Naturalistic  theolo- 
gians, and  to  the  opponents  of  the  Divine  intervention,  is,  that 
this  wholly  miraculous  part  of  the  evangelical  history  is  ab- 
solutely unassailable.  It  is  impossible  to  say  that  it  was 
invented  after  the  time,  so  long  as  the  Jews  are  extant  with 
the  book  of  the  prophets. 

To  suppose  that  the  first  disciples  of  Jesus,  after  having 
invented  the  prophecies,  paid  some  Rabbi  for  translating  them 
into  Hebrew,  that  traversing  afterwards  all  the  regions  of  the 
globe,  where  the  Jews  had  been  dispersed  from  before  the 
ruin  of  Jerusalem,  they  had  engaged  the  irreconcileable 
enemies  of  the  Christian  name,  to  insert  in  their  sacred  books, 
those  dreams  which  were  to  cover  them  with  an  eternal 
ignominy,  would  be  too  much  for  the  belief  even  of  the  Ger- 
man commentators.*  This  then  is  the  alternative,  and  there 
is  nothing  between  exterminating  the  Jews  or  recognizing  the 
authenticity  of  the  prophetic  books. 

There  remains  the  objection  already  a  thousand  times 
overthrown,  that  the  prophecies  are  full  of  obscurity,  that  the 
picture  which  Christian  apologists  here  and  there  make  of 
them,  are  composed  only  of  traits  collected  at  random,  and 
violently  detached  from  the  context ;  that,  if  the  prophecies 
were  so  clear,  the  Jews  would  have  yielded  to  their  evidence  ; 
in  short,  that  the  coincidence,  occasionally  very  remarkable, 
of  many  passages  of  the  prophets  with  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ,  is  nothing  more  than  the  accident  of  chance. 

The  reproach  of  obscurity  in  the  prophecies,  and  want  of 
faithfulness  in  the  compilation,  which  the  defenders  of  Chris- 

*  "  This  book,  (the  Prophecies,)  which  in  so  many  ways  dishonors 
the  Jews,  they  preserve  at  the  expense  of  their  life;  this  is  a  sincerity 
which  has  no  example  in  the  world  nor  root  in  nature."  (Pascal,  Pen~ 
sics,  ch.  viii.) 


PROPHETIC    BOOKS.  133 

tianity  have  made  of  them,  falls  of  itself  before  the  reading 
of  the  prophets  and  the  apologists ;  above  all  of  the  learned 
Bishop  of  Avranches,  whose  Demonstration  evangelique  ex- 
cited the  enthusiasm  of  Leibnitz  and  the  learned  men  of 
Europe.*  It  falls,  too,  before  the  fact  of  the  belief  univer- 
sally diffused  both  among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles,  at  the 
moment  when  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world,  that  Judea 
was  about  to  give  to  the  universe  a  master  who  would  bring 
back  the  golden  age,  a  belief  celebrated  by  Virgil  in  his 
Pollio,  and  by  Tacitus  in  his  Histories.^ 

If  the  majority  of  the  Jews  have  closed  and  still  close 
their  eyes  on  the  Divine  light  of  the  torch  which  they 
hold  in  their  hands,  this  blindness  was  predicted  and  must 
be,  in  the  Divine  plan,  an  invincible  demonstration  of  Chris- 
tian truth. 

"The  Jews,"  said  Pascal,  "by  killing  Jesus  Christ,  in 
order  not  to  receive  him  as  Messiah,  have  given  him  the  last 
mark  of  Messiahship.  By  continuing  to  despise  him,  they 
have  rendered  themselves  irreproachable  witnesses;  and  in 
killing  him,  and  continuing  to  deny  it,  they  have  accom- 
plished the  prophecies."| 

Who  does  not  see  that  this  indestructible  people,  whose 
existence  is  a  miracle  visible  to  all  eyes,  is  divinely  con- 
demned to  expiate  the  greatest  of  crimes,  and  to  render  the 
most  irrefragable  testimony  to  a  religion  which  it  abhors ! 
When  the  Christian  cause,  on  the  eve  of  being  judged  by  a 
final  decision,  shall  have  no  further  need  of  witnesses,  the 
remnant  of  Jacob  will  open  their  eyes  to  the  light,  and  shed 

*  See  in  the  (Euvres  de  Leibnitz,  his  letters  to  Hunt,  particularly 
the  3d,  4th  and  5th. 

t  Pluribus  persuasio  inerat,  antiquis  sacerdotum  litteris  conteneri,  ec 
ipso  tempore  fore  ut  valescevet  Orieus,  profectique  Judsea  rerurn  poti 
rentur.  (Histor.  v.  cap.  13.) 

J  Pensees,  ch.  viii. 

12 


134          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


tears  of  repentance  and  love,  at  the  feet  of  kirn  whom  they 
have  pierced* 

As  to  this  chance  upon  which  the  skeptic  so  easily  casts 
everything  that  does  not  please  him,  I  would  make  one  ob- 
servation. 

Hitherto  men  of  discretion  have  seen  in  chance  only  non- 
sense, the  divine  agent  of  fools ;  but  by  referring  to  it  every- 
thing great  and  extraordinary  in  the  government  of  the  world, 
it  has  been  transmuted  into  an  infinitely  wise  and  powerful 
being,  who  differs  from  Jehovah  only  in  name.  What  then, 
oh  skeptics!  have  you  gained?  Of  what  importance  is  it 
whether  the  Supreme  Being,  who  at  some  future  time  is  to 
demand  of  you  an  account  of  the  reason  you  have  received 
from  him,  be  called  Jehovah  or  chance  ? 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

REALITY    OF   EVANGELICAL    FACTS. CHARACTER   AND 

NUMBER    OF   WITNESSES. 

IF,  under  pain  of  extreme  folly,  we  are  obliged  to  admit 
the  authenticity  of  the  prophetic  books  upon  the  indisputable 
testimony  of  the  Jews,  how  can  we  doubt  the  authenticity 
and  veracity  of  the  evangelical  books,  when  they  are  attested 
by  witnesses  quite  as  disinterested  and  incorruptible,  and  far 
more  numerous !  What  witnesses  ?  I  will  neither  cite  the 
Jews  nor  pagans,  who,  in  the  monuments  which  remain  to  us 
of  their  furious  controversy  with  the  disciples  of  Christ,  have 
never  raised  the  least  doubt  concerning  the  authenticity  of  the 
evangelical  books,  f  I  am  about  to  speak  of  Christians. 

*  Is.  x.  21 ;  xi.  11.— Zach.  xii.  10. 

t  We  refer  the  reader  to  what  remains  to  us  of  the  books  of  Celsus, 


REALITY    OF    EVANGELICAL    FACTS.  135 

One  must  be  blind  not  to  see  that  of  all  men  in  the  world, 
the  first  Christians  were  the  most  interested  to  destroy  the 
impostor,  who  should  have  presented  to  them  a  false  history 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  fact,  the  greater  number  of  Christians  of  the  first  cen- 
tury, and  many  in  the  ages  which  followed,  had  been  at  first 
Jews  or  pagans,  and  were  consequently  obliged  to  conquer 
very  great  and  legitimate  prejudices  against  a  new  religion, 
which  accused  the  former  of  deicide  and  the  latter  of  igno- 
rance and  folly. 

All,  even  those  who  were  born  of  parents  already  Chris- 
tian, were  men,  and  consequently  cordially  opposed  to  the 
terrible  restraints  which  the  Gospel  puts  upon  the  passions. 
All  were  strongly  attached  to  honor,  to  the  esteem  of  their 
fellow-men,  to  their  liberty,  their  life,  their  property,  and  their 
kindred,  as  all  men  generally  are,  and  must  therefore  natu- 
rally have  abhorred  a  religion  which,  according  to  Tertullian, 
placed  mortification  at  the  head  of  its  teachings ;  a  religion 
filled  with  hatred  and  contempt  of  the  human  race,  accord- 
ing to  Tacitus;*  a  religion  which  its  apostles  regarded  as  a 
scandal  for  the  Jews  and  a  folly  for  Gentiles  ;f  a  religion,  in 
short,  which  no  man  could  profess  without  daily  running  the 
risk  of  seeing  himself  stripped  of  his  wealth,  dragged  to 

Porphyry  and  of  Julian  the  Apostate :  it  will  be  seen  that  the  two  first 
constantly  assume  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospels,  and  that  the  third, 
perfectly  instructed  in  Christianity,  since  he  had  filled  the  office  of 
lector  in  the  ranks  of  the  clergy,  formally  recognized  these  books  as 
the  works  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and  John.  It  will  be  seen  more- 
over in  his  books,  as  well  as  in  the  talmud  of  the  Jews,  that  these  fran- 
tic enemies  of  Christianity,  attempted  to  explain  the  miracles  of  Jesus 
Christ  by  the  power  of  magic,  so  impossible  did  they  consider  it  to 
deny  their  existence.  This  fact  alone  would  close  the  mouth  of  our 
commentators  if  any  facts  had  power  against  ignorance  and  dishonesty. 
*  Odio  huraani  generis  convicti  sunt.  (AnnaJ.  xv.  ch.  44.) 
f  Judaeis  quidem  scandalum,  gentibus  autem  stultitiam.  (I.  Cor.  i.  23.) 


136  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


prison,  laid  upon  hot  irons,  stretched  upon  the  rack  to  be 
burned,  disembowelled,  nailed  to  the  cross,  and  smeared  with 
pitch  to  light  during  the  night  the  gardens  of  Nero,  or  thrown 
to  the  wild  beasts  of  the  amphitheatre.* 

To  suppose  that  these  men,  from  whatever  class  of  society 
they  might  proceed/]-  could  have  surmounted  obstacles,  in 
their  nature  insurmountable,  to  become  Christians,  without 
being  overwhelmed  by  the  evidence  of  the  divinity  of  Chris- 
tianity, is  an  enormous  insult  to  common  sense. 

Fanatics  have  now  and  then  been  found,  sufficiently  in- 
fatuated with  their  religious  reveries,  to  maintain  them  even 
on  the  scaffold ;  yet  these  examples  have  been  extremely 
rare,  and  have  never  been  contagious;  but  that  a  large  num- 
ber of  men  should  have  braved  hatred  and  public  contempt, 
and  have  expired  in  horrible  torture  to  attest  sensible,  pal- 
pable facts,  in  which  the  truth  is  so  easily  detected,  and  whose 
falseness  would  have  been  manifest  to  them,  is  what  has  never 
been  seen,  and  never  will  be  seen  whilst  the  laws  of  the 
moral  world  subsist. 

This  however,  is  the  strange  and  monstrous  phenomenon 
which  the  infidel  is  forced  to  admit  In  short,  what  reason 
did  the  Apostles  and  their  first  disciples  give  for  their  faith  in 
Jesus  ?  The  innumerable  miracles  they  had  seen  him  per- 
form, miracles  of  such  publicity  that  they  did  not  fear  to  call 
the  Jews  themselves  to  witness  them,  above  all  the  miracle 
of  his  resurrection,  of  which  they  could  not  doubt,  because, 
as  they  affirm,  they  conversed,  eat  and  drank  with  him,  dur- 
ing more  than  forty  days  after  he  came  forth  from  the  tomb. 
How  did  the  Christians  justify  their  faith  in  the  testimony  of 

*  Et  pereuntibus  addita  ludibria,  ut  ferarum  tergis  contccti  laniatu 
canum  interirent,  aut  curcibus  affix!,  aut  flammandi,  atque  ubi  defecia 
set  dies,  in  usum  nocturni  luminis  uve  rentur.  (Tacit,  lococil.) 

t  They  were  from  all  classes,  even  from  the  court  of  Nero.     Max 
ime  autem  qui  de  Coesaris  domo  smit.  (Philipp.  iv.  22.) 


REALITY  OF  EVANGELICAL  FACTS.      137 

the  Apostles  ?  By  the  miracles  also,  which  the  latter  and 
their  disciples  incessantly  worked,  by  the  dead  whom  they 
saw  raised  to  life,  by  the  lame  whom  they  saw  walking,  by 
the  blind,  the  deaf,  and  the  paralytic,  whom  they  had  seen 
instantly  cured  by  the  invocation  of  the  name  of  Jesus.  All 
spoke  only  of  what  they  had  heard  with  their  ears,  seen  with 
their  eyes,  and  touched  with  their  hands.* 

I  would  say  to  the  boldest  enemy  of  miracles :  If  you  met 
with  eleven  witnesses  as  little  suspected  of  fanaticism  as  the 
Apostles  and  the  early  Christians  appear  to  have  been,  when 
we  read  their  writings,  and  hear  them  reason  with  their 
judges  in  the  midst  of  tortures ;  if  you  saw  eleven  witnesses 
of  this  character  enduring  the  most  horrible  death  to  attest 
the  resurrection  of  a  dead  man,  you  would  without  doubt 
waver,  and  at  least  ask  if  the  fact  might  not  be  possible. 
Instead  of  eleven  witnesses,  we  may  place  eleven  hundred,  or 
eleven  thousand.  You  must  mow  either  acknowledge  the 
miracle,  or  be  convicted  of  madness.  Could  you  doubt  the 
miracles  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Apostles  of  his  religion, 
miracles  established  by  the  testimony  of  nearly  eleven  millions 
of  Christians  of  every  age,  sex  and  condition,  slain  from  the 
time  of  Nero,  in  the  middle  of  the  first  century,  to  Constan- 
tine,  in  the  commencement  of  the  fourth,-]-  and  expect  to  save 
your  reputation  as  a  reasonable  being  ! 

But  it  will  be  soon  seen  that  we  are  yet  far  from  the  true 
number  of  the  witnesses  of  the  miracles. 

*  Quod  andivimus,  quod  vidimus  oculis  nostris,  quod  perspeximus,  et 
manus  nostrae  contrectaverunf.  (I.  John.  i.  4.) 

j-  The  Acta  primorum  Martyrum  sincera  of  Dom  Ruinart,  and  the 
learned  Preface  which  precedes  them,  prove  that  this  number  is  not 
exasperated. 


138          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XL  II  I. 

CONVERSION  OF  THE  WORLD,  MANIFEST  PROOF  OF  THE  DIVINE 

INTERPOSITION ABSURDITY  OF  NATURAL  REASONS  WHICH 

ARE    GIVEN   FOR  THIS  EVENT. 

A  FEW  days  before  his  death,  Jesus  Christ  said  to  his  disci- 
ples :  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  on  the  cross,  will  draw  all 
things  to  myself."  * 

Two  months  after  this  incomprehensible  prediction,  twelve 
poor  fishermen  of  the  lake  of  Genesareth,  undertook  to  realize 
it. 

Instead  of  the  Gods  whom  the  world  had  adored  for  so 
many  ages,  they  preached  a  God  made  man,  born  in  a  stable, 
reared  in  a  carpenter's  shop,  put  to  death  on  the  cross  be- 
tween two  malefactors. 

For  the  brilliant  and  licentious  fictions  of  pagan  mytho- 
logy, for  the  eloquent  discussions  of  philosophers,  they  sub- 
stituted a  doctrine  full  of  mystery  and  a  morality  revolting  to 
the  passions.  They  said  to  all :  "  Renounce  the  vain  light  of 
your  reason,  and  submit  your  mind  to  the  yoke  of  faith  ;  sac- 
rifice your  most  natural  inclinations  by  despising  yourselves 
by  despising  wealth,  honor,  and  pleasure,  by  forgiving  injuries, 
and  loving  your  enemies.  Sacrifice  the  body  to  the  severe 
laws  of  penitence.  Poverty,  humility  and  mortification  are  the 
inheritance  of  the  disciples  of  a  crucified  God." 

What  temporal  rewards  did  they  promise  to  those  who 
consented  to  follow  them  ?  Contempt,  persecution,  loss  of 
possession  and  of  liberty,  the  dungeon,  the  stake  and  every 
variety  of  torture. 

If  such  an  enterprise  had  not  been  decreed  in  the  councils 
of  the  Most  High,  who  converts  obstacles  to  means,  and  is 

*  St  John  xii.  32. 


CONVERSION    OF    THE    WORLD.  139 

pleased  to  make  all  tilings  of  nothing,  we  must  acknowledge 
that  all  these  who  engaged  in  it  were  extravagant  and  mad. 

Yet  the  crucified  one  draws  everything  to  himself.  Twen- 
ty years  after  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ,  St.  Paul,  whose  con- 
version and  apostleship,  have  furnished  a  profound  English 
thinker  with  a  beautiful  demonstration  of  the  truth  of  Christi- 
anity,* wrote  to  the  Christians  of  Rome  that  their  faith  is  spoken 
of  throughout  all  the  world.-j-  The  fishermen  took  in  their  nets 
not  only  the  common  people,  but  the  learned,  philosophers, 
senators,  proconsuls,  officers  and  courtiers.  In  vain  did  the 
emperors,  the  priests  of  the  idols,  and  all  human  powers  arm 
themselves  against  what  they  called  an  infamous  and  odious 
superstition.  In  vain  the  people  cried  "  Give  the  Christians 
to  the  lions."  The  Christians  multiplied  under  the  axe  of  the 
executioner.  In  short,  after  three  centuries  of  carnage,  the 
cross  was  planted  upon  the  capitol,  and  before  the  middle  of 
the  seventh  century,  Christianity  was  the  religion  of  the  Roman 
empire,  that  is,  of  the  then  known  world. 

No  one  I  think,  will  dream  of  denying  the  fact.  Deny  the 
divine  interposition,  reduce  the  agents  of  this  immense  revo- 
lution to  the  rank  of  impostors  or  fanatics,  the  phenomenon 
is  more  absurd  than  incontestable.  It  is  the  mouse  which 
brought  forth  the  Alps.J 

*  See  the  work  of  Lord  George  Lyttleton,  published  in  English  un- 
der the  title  of,  Observations  on  the  Conversion  and  Apostleship  of 
St.  Paul,  and  translated  into  French  by  the  Abbe  Guenee,  under  the 
following  title :  La  Religion  Chretienne  demontrce  par  la  Conversion 
ct  VApostolat  de  Saint  Paul.  Lyttleton  was,  like  the  celebrated  Gil- 
bert AVest,  his  friend,  one  of  those  conscientious  thinkers  whom  a  pro- 
found study  of  the  Christian  Religion  led  from  the  ranks  of  skepticism 
into  those  of  the  most  illustrious  defenders  of  Christianity, 
f  Fides  vestra  annuntiatur  in  universo  mundo.  (Rom.  i.  8.) 
{  "  A  man  who  can  believe  that  these  facts,  so  contrary  to  all  that 
\ve  know,  took  place  in  virtue  of  the  disposition  of  the  human  heart, 
and  have  occurcd  without  supernatural  intervention,  such  a  man  has 


140  THE    SOLUTION    CF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

I  am  not  ignorant  of  the  efforts  of  certain  modern  profes- 
sors of  the  philosophy  oi  history,  to  take  from  this  event  the 
evidence  of  its  supernatural  character.  Christianity  accord- 
ing to  them  would  be  only  a  magnificent  burst  of  human 
thought,  which,  after  having  for  a  long  time  lingered  among 
the  sensual  fictions  of  mythology,  progressively  rose  to  spirit- 
ualism and  renewed  in  the  Christian  creed,  the  fruit  of  its  the- 
ologico-philosophical  labors  in  Egypt,  Persia,  India,  and 
Greece. 

But  I  also  know,  that  these  sublime  professors  have  not 
been  able  to  disfigure  history  sufficiently  to  give  to  their 
strange  paradoxes  even  the  shadow  of  probability.  Let  them 
show  us  then,  history  in  hand,  that  constant  progression  of 
ideas,  and  those  steps  of  the  human  mind  towards  the  height 
of  Christian  faith.  Let  them  show  us  in  the  progressive  amelio- 
ration of  public  and  private  morals  among  the  Pagans,  any 
tendency  whatever  towards  the  regeneration  effected  by  the 
Christian  decalogue  in  the  individual,  the  family  and  society. 
In  a  word,  let  them  represent  the  world  to  us  as  almost  Chris- 
tian before  the  coming  of  Christ 

Do  these  persons  regard  us  then  as  barbarians,  as  such 
strangers  to  all  historical  knowledge,  as  not  to  know  that  at 
the  moment  when  Christianity  appeared,  the  mind  and  heart 
of  man  were  every  where  at  the  antipodes  of  its  doctrine  and 
morality ! 

Was  it  the  universal  prevalence  of  the  philosophy  of  Epi- 
curus embellished  by  the  poetry  of  Lucretius,  which  could 
have  prepared  the  Romans  and  the  Greeks  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Christian  dogma  ! 

Was  it  when  the  terrible  corruption  of  morals  justified  by 

much  more  faith  than  is  necessary  for  a  belief  in  the  Christian  Religion, 
and  he  remains  incredulous  through  pure  credulity."  (Soame  Jenyns, 
Examination  of  the  Internal  Evidence  of  Christianity,  p.  160,  trans- 
lation of  Feller. 


PECULIAR    MIRACLE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.          141 


religion  and  by  the  example  and  authority  of  the  sages  of 
philosophy,  contaminated  with  unspeakable  abominations  the 
temples,  the  palaces  of  the  emperors,  private  dwellings  and 
public  theatres ;  was  it  when  love  had  but  one  form  which 
cannot  be  named  ;*  was  it  in  the  ages  of  Tiberius,  Nero,  Ca- 
ligula, Vitellius  and  Heliogabulus,  ages  so  well  described  by 
Lucian,  Tacitus,  Juvenal,  Suetonius,  Atheneus,  Dion-Cassius, 
Lampridius,  Ammianus  Marcellus,  &c.,  was  it  then,  that 
evangelical  morality  could  have  been  welcomed!  Was  it 
when  the  Patricians  of  Rome  fed  the  fishes  of  their  ponds 
with  the  flesh  of  the  slaves,  was  it  when  the  public  found  no 
remedy  for  ennui,  except  in  the  massacre  of  gladiators,-}-  that 
Christian  charity  was  to  take  possession  of  all  hearts  ! 

If  then  it  is  the  world  which  has  given  birth  to  Christianity, 
let  the  cries  of  fury  be  explained  to  us,  which  welcomed  the 
newly  born  on  his  entrance  into  it. 

Finally,  how  have  these  professors  of  the  philosophy  of 
history,  fallen  into  so  profound  an  ignorance  of  history  and 
philosophy. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

DISTINGUISHING    MIRACLE    OP   CHRISTIANITY. NUMBER    OF 

WITNESSES    OF    THE    DIVINITY    OF    RELIGION. EXTRAVA- 
GANCE   OF    THE    UNBELIEVER. 

It  was  without  doubt  a  superhuman  act,  which  destroyed 
the  immemorial  worship  of  idols,  and  cast  down  from  the  al- 
tar-height to  the  obscurity  of  a  museum,  the  venerated  images 
of  the  gods  of  Olympus. 

*  Montesquieu,  Esprit  des  Lois,  liv.  vii.  ch.  9. 

t  Jugulantur  homines,  ne  nihil  agatur.  (Senec.  ep.  vii.) 


142  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

But  the  miracle  of  Christian  miracles,  was  the  triumph  over 
an  idolatry,  far  more  ancient,  far  more  universal,  far  more 
profound,  the  idolatry  of  self. 

Fenelon  has  somewhere  said  that  nothing  is  easier  than  to 
prove  to  a  man  of  sense  that  Jupiter  is  not ;  but  to  prove  to 
a  man  that  he  himself  is  nothing  and  to  oblige  him  to  treat 
himself  accordingly  ! — this  however  Christianity  has  done. 
It  requires  that,  recognizing  all  our  thought  to  be  ignorance, 
and  all  our  desires  corruption,  we  wholly  lay  aside  ourself ; 
it  requires  us  to  renounce  our  own  knowledge  by,  faith  crucify 
our  appetites  by  penitence,  and  follow  after  the  humiliated 
God.* 

Here  we  see,  are  as  many  gods  to  dethrone  as  there  are 
individuals,  as  many  idols  to  overthrow  as  there  are  passions 
in  the  human  heart. 

We  have  said  above  that  all  men  are  naturally  Christians : 
which  is  true ;  for  there  is  in  us  a  natural  fund  of  love  for 
truth  and  virtue.  But  our  passions  often  make  us  infidels, 
and  there  are  very  few  Christians  who  are  not  occasionally 
inclined  to  wish  that  religion  was  false. 

Christianity  is  then  professed  only  by  its  enemies,  and  every 
Christian  is  a  martyr ;  that  is  to  say,  he  attests  the  truth  of 
religion  at  his  own  expense.  If  he  brings  his  conduct  into 
conformity  with  the  gospel,  he  sacrifices  his  passions  to  this 
faith,  and  this  sacrifice  is  little  less  than  that  of  life.  If  he 
violates  the  duties  which  faith  imposes  upon  him,  he  enters 
into  warfare  with  his  conscience  and  loses  the  first  of  bless- 
ings, peace  with  himself. 

Thus  the  testimony  of  one  believer  alone,  proves  more  in 

*  Si  quis  vult  post  me  venire,  abneget  semetipsum,  et  tollat  crucem 
suam,  et  seqnatur  me.  (Matth.  xvi.  24.)  Exspoliantes  vos  veterem 
hnminem  cum  actibus  suis,  et  induentes  novum,  &c.  (Coloss.  iii.  9,  10.) 
Qui  autem  sunt  Christi,  carnem  suam  crucifixerunt  cum  vitiis  et  con- 
cupiscentiis.  (Galat.  v.  24.) 


PECULIAR    MIRACLE    OF    CHRISTIANITY.          143 

favor  of  Christianity,  than  the  opposition  of  a  hundred  infidels 
proves  against  it.  The  reason  is  clear  why  there  are  men 
who  refuse  to  believe  ;  it  is  because  they  wish  to  be  dispensed 
from  doing  well :  *  to  be  an  unbeliever,  it  is  sufficient  to  leave 
ourselves  at  liberty ;  but  to  believe,  is  a  different  affair,  and 
the  violence  which  a  Christian  does  to  his  heart  or  his  con- 
science, finds  its  motive  only  in  the  irresistible  truth  of  his 
religion. 

All  Christians  are  martyrs  to  their  religion.  Let  us  now 
enumerate  them. 

The  actual  number  of  Christians  is  at  least  two  hundred  and 
forty  millions.  Reducing  it  to  a  hundred  and  eighty  millions 
for  each  generation,  and  giving  thirty-five  years  to  each,  we 
shall  have  more  than  nine  hundred  millions  of  Christians. 

And  it  is  in  presence  of  this  host  of  witnesses,  some  bleed- 
ing under  the  iron  of  the  executioners,  others  radiant  with  the 
light  of  genius,  and  most  of  them  respected  for  their  virtues ; 
it  is,  I  repeat,  in  the  presence  of  this  throng  of  witnesses,  that 
the  unbeliever,  always  alone  in  his  opinion,f  says  to  us : 
"  You  are  all  simpletons ;  why  do  you  not  see  that  your 
religion  is  nonsense ! " 

I  would  ask  if  the  human  heart  has  pity  and  contempt 
enough  for  such  extravagance ! 

Finally:  to  take  from  the  Gospel  its  historical  reality,  is  to 
abjure  reason  entirely. 

*  Noluit  intelligere  ut  bene  ageret.  (Ps.  xxxv.  4.) 

•(•  Infidels,  in  fact,  never  agree  except  in  attacking  religon ;  and  in 
that,  even  what  differences !  what  one  approves  in  Christianity,  the  other 
rejects,  what  one  admires,  another  despises.  "  I  find  them  all,"  says  J. 
J.  Rousseau,  "  proud,  arrogant,  and  even  dogmatic  in  their  pretended  un- 
belief, proving  nothing,  and  making  sport  of  each  other  ;  and  this  point 
common  to  all,  appears  to  me  the  only  one  in  which  they  are  all  right. 
If  the  votes  are  counted,  each  one  is  reduced  to  his  own."  Hence  the 
skeptic  always  says  :  "  I  alone  know  more  than  nine  millions  like  my- 
9elf." 


144  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

HARMONY    OF    CHRISTIANITY    WITH    THE    GENERAL    HISTORY 

OF    THE    WORLD,    WITH    NATURE    AND    WITH    ALL    THE 

SCIENCES. 

OF  all  books  extant,  the  Bible  is  the  only  one  which  makes 
known  to  us  the  origin  of  things,  the  creation  of  the  world, 
the  formation  of  man,  the  cradle  of  society,  and  the  different 
physical,  political  and  moral  revolutions  through  which  the 
human  race  has  arrived  at  the  epoch  in  which  profane  history 
comes  forth  from  the  shades  of  fable.  This  portion  of  our 
Holy  Books  is  sufficiently  justified  by  its  great  simplicity, 
the  extreme  sobriety  of  its  details,  the  admirable  connection 
of  its  facts,  and  even  by  the  naturalness  of  the  miraculous 
events  which  it  must  necessarily  contain.* 

The  annals  of  ancient  nations,  separated  from  what  is  evi- 
dently fabulous  in  them,  agree  with  the  Mosaic  chronology. 
The  intellectual,'  political  and  moral  condition  of  society  at 
its  appearance  in  history,  proves  the  youth  of  the  nations, 
and  that  of  the  world  is  demonstrated  by  the  general  aspect 
of  the  globe  and  by  the  numerous  chronometers  scattered 
over  its  surface.f 

*  The  marvellous  is  always  natural  and  reasonable  when  it  is  neces- 
sary, that  is,  when  the  nature  of  facts  demands  the  intervention  of  a 
super-human  agent.  This  is  the  judicious  observation  of  the  legislator 
of  the  latin  Parnassus  : 

Nee  Deus  inlersit,  nisi  dignus  vindicc  nodus 
Incident  .  .  . 

On  the  contrary,  it  is  doing  violence  to  reason,  to  attribute  to  nature 
what  evidently  surpasses  her  powers  :  this  is  the  marvellous  stupidity 
which  so  abounds  in  these  modern  theories,  (that  pretend)  to  explain 
naturally,  the  formation  of  the  world  and  its  inhabitants. 

M.  Cuvier  counts  four  principal  ones,  the  alluvial  accretions,  the 
downs,  the  peat-grounds  and  the  rolling  downs.     "  Nature,"  said  this 


CHRISTIANITY    AND    HISTORY.  145 

We  cannot  now  speak  of  the  astronomical  monuments  of 
Egypt,  known  under  the  name  of  zodiacs,  without  smiling  at 
the  calculations  of  Dupuis,  and  the  triumph  of  his  foolish 
admirers,*  "  since  finishing  where  one  would  naturally  have 
commenced,  if  prejudice  had  not  blinded  the  first  observers, 
pains  have  been  taken  to  copy  and  restore  the  Greek 
inscriptions  engraved  on  monuments,  and  especially  since  M. 
Champollion  has  succeeded  in  decyphering  those  which  are 
expressed  in  hieroglyphics."  f 

The  terrible  event  which  Moses  relates  in  the  seventh  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  an  event  so  obstinately  denied  by  the  natural- 
ists of  the  Encyclopaedia,  is  now  beyond  the  reach  of  all 
opposition.  The  denudaled  valleys,  the  boulders,  the  caves  of 
fossil,  remains,  and  that  mammoth,  which  has  left,  in  the  dilu- 
vial beds,  thousands  of  its  skeletons  from  Spain  to  the  shores 
of  Siberia,^  that  mammoth  whose  still  bleeding  flesh  nour- 
ishes the  dogs  of  the  Tunguse  fishermen,^  such  is  the  incon- 

"  learned  man,"  everywhere  holds  the  same  language  ;  she  everywhere 
proclaims  that  the  actual  order  of  things  does  not  go  back  to  a  great 
antiquity ;  and  what  is  very  remarkable,  man  every  where  tells  us  the 
same  thing  as  nature,  whether  we  consult  the  true  traditions  of  nations, 
or  examine  the  moral  and  political  state,  and  the  intellectual  develope- 
inent  which  they  had  attained  at  the  commencement  of  their  authentic 
monuments."  Discours  sur  les  Revolutions  de  la  Surface  du  Globe, 
&c.  p.  164.  "  None  of  the  ancient  monuments  of  profane  history  still 
subsisting,  and  dating  from  a  certain  historical  epoch,  contradicts  the 
period  assigned  to  the  deluge,  according  to  the  Greek  text  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint."  Champollion,  R6sum6  complet  de  Chronologic,  &c.  No.  GO. 

*  Dupuis,  in  the  Memoire  sur  VOrigine  des  Constellations,  inserted 
in  the  3d  vol.  of  his  very  absurd  Origine  des  Cultes,  traces  back  the 
astronomical  studies  of  the  Egyptians,  to  the  modest  epoch  of  fifteen 
thousand  years. 

t  Cuvier,  Discours,  &.c.  p.  269 

\  Cuvier,  Discours,  &.c.  p.  334. 

§  Every  one  has  heard  of  the  famous  elephant  dicovered  in  1799,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Lena  by  a  Tunguse  chief,  and  the  skeleton  of  which 
is  still  seen  in  the  Imperial  Museum  of  St.  Petersburg. 

13 


146          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

trovertible  testimony  given  by  geology,  and  which,  diffused 
over  all  points  of  the  globe,  attests  the  universality  of  the 
catastrophy.  On  the  other  hand  the  date  which  the  sacred 
writer  assigns  to  it,  is  confirmed  by  the  progress  of  deltas, 
downs,  accumulation  of  sand  around  tlie  glaciers,  pent- grounds, 
Sfc.  "  If  there  is  anything  established  in  geology,"  says  the 
first  naturalist  of  the  age,  "  it  is  that  the  surface  of  our  globe 
has  been  the  subject  of  a  great  and  sudden  revolution,  the 
date  of  which  cannot  extend  much  farther  back  than  five  or 
six  thousand  years."* 

One  fact,  however,  which  this  great  man  regarded  as  esta- 
blished, I  mean  the  absence  of  human  fossil  remains,!  gave 
a  handle  to  the  enemies  of  the  Bible.  Obliged  to  recognize 
the  existence  of  the  deluge,  they  hastened  to  publish  that  it 
was  anterior  to  the  human  race.  But  their  learned  disserta- 
tions were  still  moist  from  the  press,  when  from  many  parts 
of  France  and  Belgium,  the  discovery  of  human  fossil  remains 
was  announced,  and  M.  Cuvier  himself  made  the  communi- 
cation of  this  very  important  fact  to  the  Academy  of  Sci- 
ence.J  It  is  true  that  there  yet  remains  some  doubt  among 

*  Cuvier,  Discours,  &c.  p.  282. 

t  Cuvier,  Ibid.  p.  131. — "  But  I  would  not  conclude,  said  this  learned 
man,  that  our  race  did  not  exist  at  all  before  this  epoch.  It  might  have 
inhabited  some  countries  of  small  extent,  from  whence  it  re-peopled 
the  earth  after  these  terrible  events  ;  perhaps  also  the  places  where  man 
was  preserved,  have  been  entirely  swallowed  up,  and  his  bones  buried 
in  the  depths  of  the  present  seas,  &c."  p.  138. 

}  Session  of  January  llth,  1830. — Already  in  the  session  of  the  23d 
of  November  preceding,  the  simultaneous  discoveries  of  M.  M.  Chrys- 
tolles  and  Marcel  de  Serves,  in  the  department  of  Card,  and  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Montpelier  of  human  bones,  presenting  all  the  cha- 
racteristics of  fossils  had  been  announced.  M-  Tournal  also  discovered 
in  the  grotto  of  Bize,  near  Narbonne,  human  bones,  mingled  with  the 
remains  of  pottery  and  the  bones  of  animals  now  lost,  and  the  materials 
under  which  they  are  buried  are  regarded  by  all  geologists  as  belong- 
ing to  the  deluge.  See  Bulletin  de  la  Socie'te'  Gtologique  de  France, 


UNITY    OF    THE    HUMAN    RACE.  147 

geologists  of  the  diluvian  character  of  these  bones ;  but  all 
agree  that  the  investigation  of  the  diluvian  depositories,  has 
not  yet  been  made  on  a  scale  sufficiently  extensive  to  enable 
the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  it,  of  the  non-existence  of 
human  fossils. 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

CONTINUATION. WORK  OF  SIX  DAYS. UNITY  OF  THE  HUMAN 

KACE. UNIVERSAL    TRADITIONS. 

THE  Mosaic  cosmogony  appeared  to  the  philosophers  of 
the  eighteenth  century  as  an  imaginary  tale,  unworthy  of  the 
attention  of  the  learned.  Among  other  circumstances,  the 
creation  of  light  before  the  sun  was  very  amusing  to  the 
naturalists  of  that  period. 

At  the  present  day  there  is  no  one  "  who  does  not  smile 
with  pity  at  the  scientific  reasonings  of  Voltaire,"  and  of  his 
school,  "  against  the  book  of  Genesis."  * 

The  theory  of  undulations,  which  recognizes  in  the  lumin- 
ous fluid,  an  existence  independent  of  the  sun — a  theory 
which  must  naturally  enter  the  thoughts  of  philosophers 

1S30.  M.  Schomerling  has  found  in  the  caverns  of  Maestrich,  heads 
which  recal,  according  to  him,  African  forms.  These  skulls  are  mixed 
with  the  remains  of  pottery,  bone  bodkins,  &c.  See  Jehan,  JVouveau 
Traitt  des  Sciences  Gtologiques,  itude,  x. 

*  Words  of  M.  the  Baron  of  Firussac,  Bulletin  Universal  des  Sciences, 
vol.  x. — "  The  authors  of  the  XVIIIth  Century  who  have  treated  the 
sacred  books  of  the  Hebrews  with  contempt  mingled  with  anger,  judged 
antiquity  in  a  wretchedly  superficial  manner  .  .  In  order  to  amuse  them- 
selves with  Voltaire  at  the  expense  of  Ezekiel  or  of  Genesis,  two  things 
were  necessary,  which  make  this  gaiety  very  sad:  the  most  profound 
ignorance  and  the  most  deplorable  frivolity."  Benjamin  Constant,  De 
la  Religio  i  consid6r£e,  &c.  vol.  iv.  ch.  11. 


148  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

every  time  they  write  by  the  light  of  a  wax-candle  or  see  the 
flint  sparkling  under  the  stroke  of  the  steel,  acquires  by 
experience  the  value  of  a  demonstrated  fact. 

As  to  the  recital  of  the  work  of  six  days,  all  men  of  sci- 
ence agree  that  there  is  nothing  in  it  incompatible  with 
modern  discoveries. 

Some  persons,  believing  that  they  find  a  perfect  corres- 
pondence between  the  geological  constitution  of  the  globe, 
and  the  order  of  terrestrial  productions  stated  by  Moses  in 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  contemplate  with  religious  respect 
this  astonishing  page,  and  ask  who  has  revealed  to  its  author 
truths  so  profoundly  concealed  from  his  cotemporaries.* 

Others  disputing,  not  without  some  reason,  this  coincidence, 
see  nothing  in  the  recital  of  Genesis  but  the  history  of  the 
formation  of  the  Adamic  world,  and  date  the  existence  of 
anterior  worlds,  whose  antidiluvian  beds  conceal  immense 
ruins,  from  the  vast  period  of  time  which  intervened  between 
the  act  of  creation  and  the  actual  organization  of  the  globe.f 

The  unity  of  the  human  race  which,  according  to  Voltaire, 
could  only  be  admitted  by  blind  persons,!  *s  no  l°nger  called 
in  question,  except  by  some  blind  admirers  of  that  man  whose 
ignorance  equalled  his  impiety.  Strong  in  the  testimony  of 

*  See  M.  Demerson.  La  Geologic  enseignle  en  vingt  deux  lemons, 
Paris,  1829,  p.  408,  471. — M.  Boubee,  Geologic  populaire,  Paris, 
1S33,  p.  66. 

\  This  hypothesis,  which  seems  now  to  prevail  concerning  the 
theory  of  the  day-periods  of  the  learned  De  Luc,  would  have  the 
double  advantage  of  doing  no  violence  to  the  words  of  scripture,  and 
of  agreeing  with  a  certain  number  of  geological  facts.  It  would  find 
also  a  respectable  support  in  the  monuments  of  antiquity,  whether 
Christian  or  profane.  See  Wiseman,  Discourse  on  the  relation  be- 
tween science  and  revealed  Religion,  discourse  5th. — Desdouits, 
Soirees  de  Monthllry. — Jehan,  Nouveau  Traiti  des  sciences  geolo- 
giques,  etude  xii. 

f  Histoire  de  Russe,  sous  Pierre  le  Grand,  ch.  i. 


UNITY    OF    THE    HUMAN    RACE.  149 

the  greatest  modern  naturalists,*  it  finds  a  new  demonstration 
in  ethnography. 

What  Moses  tells  us  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Genesis,  that 
before  the  separation  of  the  children  of  Noah,  the  earth  had 
one  tongue  and  the  same  speech,  and  that  this  unity  of  lan- 
guage was  suddenly  destroyed  by  an  act  of  Divine  power, j-  is 
confirmed  by  the  comparative  study  of  languages.  Closely 
examined,  all  known  tongues  are  grouped  around  three  primi- 
tive languages;  and  the  latter,  in  their  turn  show,  by  their 
numerous  connections,  both  a  common  origin  and  a  separa- 
tion, which  could  not  be  the  slow  and  gradual  work  of  ages.J 
If  we  afterwards  retrace  the  line  which  different  idioms  and 
different  nations  have  followed  in  their  diverging  movement, 
we  shall  arrive  precisely  at  that  part  of  the  ancient  world 
where  the  sacred  writer  places  the  common  stock  of  human 
families.§  A  comparison  of  the  different  writings  and  cyphers 
in  use  among  ancient  and  modern  nations  leads  to  the  same 
result.  || 

But  while  consulting  the  historical  and  literary  monuments 
of  nations,  if  we  look  into  their  creeds,  we  shall  find  that  their 
religious  traditions  always  unite  in  one  primitive  tradition,  of 
which  they  are  only  a  more  or  less  gross  corruption.  The 
unity  of  God,  the  creation  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  existence 
of  good  and  bad  spirits,  the  felicity  enjoyed  by  our  first 
parents,  the  crime  by  which  they  fell,  their  longevity,  the  ex- 
pectation of  a  deliverer,  faith  in  future  rewards  and  punish- 

*  Buffon,  Cuvier,  Lacepede,  Blumenbach,  &c. 

t  Erat  antem  terra  labii  unius,  et  sermonum  eorumdem.  Venite 
igitur  descendamus,  et  confundamus  linguam  eorum.  (Gen.  xi.  1,7.) 

J  See  Wiseman,  Discourse,  &c.     2d  discourse. 

§  See  Adrien  Balbi,  Jltlas  Ethnographique  du  Globe,  au  Classifi- 
cation des  Peuples  anciens  et  modernes,  depuis  leurs  langues,  &,c. 

||  Essais  sur  I'Origine  unique  et  hieroglyphique  des  chiffres  et  des 
Icttres  de  tony  les peuples,  &c.,  by  M.  de  Paravey,  Paris,  182G. 

13* 


150  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ments,  prayer,  sacrifice,  the  remembrance  of  a  universal 
deluge,  &c.,  are  found,  more  or  less  encumbered  with  fabu- 
lous details,  in  the  creeds  of  all  nations.  The  human  race, 
like  nature,  has  but  one  voice,  and  that  voice  is  Christian. 


We  have  now  seen  that  Christianity  is  essentially  true,  and 
pure  from  all  error.  Is  it  also  good,  and  capable  of  procur- 
ing for  man  the  degree  of  happiness  compatible  with  his  state 
of  trial  ? 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

EXCELLENCE    OF   THE   EVANGELICAL   MORALITY. ITS    ADMIR- 
ABLE   INFLUENCE    ON   SOCIETY    AND    THE    INDIVIDUAL. 

THAT  the  Christian  Decalogue  has  not  a  single  command- 
ment which  does  not  tend  to  render  man  good  and  perfect,  is 
a  fact  which  needs  no  proof,  acknowledged  as  it  is  by  the 
enemies  of  our  faith.  A  volume  might  be  composed  of  the 
praises  which  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  d'Alembert,  Diderot,  and 
their  followers  have  rendered  to  the  perfection  of  the  Gospel 
morality. 

But  is  not  man  made  happy  when  he  is  made  virtuous  ? 
Take  from  the  human  heart  the  bad  passions  which  the  Gos- 
pel condemns,  establish  in  it  that  tender  charity  of  which 
Jesus  has  given  us  the  precept  and  the  example,  a  charity 
which  obliges  every  one  to  labor  for  the  happiness  of  others, 
with  as  much  interest  as  for  his  own,  the  earth  would  become 
a  paradise,  and  the  innumerable  woes  which  now  make  it 
desolate  would  be  banished. 

What,  in  truth,  are  the  greater  part  of  our  miseries,  but  the 
effect  of  our  vices.  With  ambition,  avarice,  libertinism,  would 


EVANGELICAL    MORALITY.  151 


disappear  war,  fraud,  lawsuits,  pauperism,  hatred,  vengeance, 
homicide,  and  three-fourths  of  the  maladies ;  in  short,  all  the 
scourges  of  human  origin.  As  to  natural  afflictions,  which 
the  universal  conscience,  religion  and  reason,  lead  us  to  view 
as  Divine  chastisements,  it  is  plain  that  they  would  be  in  a 
great  measure  done  away,  with  the  crimes  which  provoked 
them. 

Charity  would  neutralize  the  effect  of  those  which  God 
still  allowed  to  remain,  to  try  the  submission  of  his  children, 
and  give  them  an  opportunity  to  aid  each  other.  Would  not 
the  love  of  God  and  our  neighbor  accomplish  more  than  a 
wise  love  of  gain  could  effect  by  the  institution  of  Insurance 
Companies  1  By  dividing  their  woes  and  afflictions  among  a 
large  number,  we  should  take  from  misfortune  its  power. 

Death  would  remain  with  the  physical  infirmities  attached 
to  our  state  of  expiation  and  trial ;  but,  for  the  disciple  of 
Jesus  Christ,  is  not  death  gain,  and  does  not  the  cross  trans- 
mute sufferings  into  the  coin  with  which  the  crowns  and  joys 
of  heaven  are  purchased?* 

It  may  be  said  that  this  is  Utopian :  but  if  the  absolute 
reign  of  the  Gospel  over  all  hearts  has  never  been  seen,  and 
probably  never  will  be  seen,  who  is  to  be  blamed  for  it  ?  the 
Gospel  or  man  ?  Must  Christianity,  then,  be  made  responsi- 
ble for  our  perversity  ? 

We  shall  show  elsewhere  that  Utopia  is  more  or  less 
realized  among  Christian  nations,  and  that  their  general  well- 
being  has  always  been  proportioned  to  the  degree  of  influence 
which  their  customs  and  laws  have  permitted  to  the  Gospel.f 

Moreover,  as  everything  in  us  excites  us  to  consecrate  our 
existence  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  welfare  of  our  fellow- 

*  Mihi  enim  .  .  .  mori  lucrum,  (Philipp.  i.  21.) — Momentaneum  et 
leve  tribulationis  nostrae  supra  modum  in  sublimitate  seternum  gloria 
pcndus  operatur  in  nobis.  (II.  Cor.  iv.  17.) 

t  See  Second  Problem. 


152  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

men,  Christianity  does  not  make  our  own  happiness  depend 
upon  our  success ;  very  different  in  that  from  philosophy 
which  shows  us  felicity  only  in  that  unattainable  future  where 
all  men  shall  agree  to  act  in  obedience  to  its  laws. 

The  true  Christian,  if  he  were  alone  in  the  world,  if  all  the 
world  were  against  him,  would  yet  be  happy,  and  would  say 
with  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles :  "  I  am  filled  with  comfort, 
I  exceedingly  abound  with  joy  in  all  our  tribulation."*  He 
finds  in  the  testimony  of  a  good  conscience  a  continual  feast  ,^ 
an  inexhaustible  source  of  delight,  in  which  the  fire  of  tribu- 
lation is  extinguished  as  a  spark  in  the  sea. 

Almost  all  our  moral  sufferings  arise  from  the  continual 
opposition  which  our  capricious  and  often  unjust  wills  meet 
with ;  we  desire  what  we  have  not  and  cannot  have.J 

The  Christian  avoids  these  contradictions  by  suffering  in 
himself  no  other  will  but  that  of  God,  which  nothing  resists.§ 
Convinced  that  this  father,  whose  infinite  benevolence  every- 
thing guarantees  to  him,  will  make  the  most  painful  events 
serve  for  the  benefit  of  his  children, ||  he  abandons  himself 
with  joy  to  his  loving  providence,  and  always  finds  things 
working  together  for  the  best  Let  him  vegetate  in  obscur- 
ity and  indigence,  let  him  sit  on  a  dunghill  devoured  by 
•worms  like  Job  ;  let  him  be  thrown,  loaded  with  irons,  into 
the  depths  of  a  dungeon ;  or  be  condemned  to  bear  a  still 
heavier  burden  of  calumny  and  public  hatred,  this  thought : 

*  Repletus  sum  consolatione,  superabundo  gaudio  in  omni  tribulati- 

one  nostra.     (II.  Cor.  vii.  4.) 

f  Secura  mens  quasi  juge  convivium.     (Prov.  xv.  15.) 

J  Unde  bella  et  lites  in  vobis  ?    Nonne  hinc  ?  ex  concupiscentiis 

vestris,  quac  militant  in  membris  vestris  ?    Concupiscitis,  et  non  hab- 

etis  .  .  .  Zelatis,  et  non  potestis  adipisci.  (Jas.  iv.  2..) 
§  Voluntati  enim  ejus  quis  resistit?  (Rom.  ix.  19.) 
||  Scimus  autem  quoniam  diligentibus  Deum  omnia  co-operat  tur  in 

bonum.     (Rom.  viii.  28.) 


EVANGELICAL    MORALITY.  163 

God  sees  it,  God  wills  it,  God  will  reward  it;  he  must  indeed 
love  me,  since  he  treats  me  as  his  well-beloved  Son,  will 
charm  away  his  pain,  and  he  will  exclaim  with  the  Apostle 
of  the  Indies :  "  Still  more,  Lord,  still  more  !" 

Hence  that  calmness,  that  serenity,  that  joy  of  the  martyrs 
in  the  midst  of  tortures,  which  the  astonished  persecutors 
could  only  explain  by  magic,  and  which  often  led  the  execu- 
tioners to  throw  aside  the  axe  and  hasten  to  baptism.  Hence, 
in  all  the  saints,  that  taste,  that  passion  for  suffering,  which 
caused  them  to  say  :  "  Let  me  die  or  suffer." 

What  an  unspeakable  charm  does  the  Christian,  who 
nourishes  himself  with  thoughts  of  faith,  find  in  the  prospect 
of  that  eternity  of  glory  and  of  joy  from  which  he  is  sepa- 
rated only  by  the  short  passage  of  life !  The  uncertainty 
concerning  the  moment  of  death,  which  poisons  the  life  of 
the  worldling,  supports  him  and  consoles  him,  and  it  is  with 
joy  that  he  sees  falling,  piece  by  piece,  the  prison  of  clay 
which  retains  his  soul  in  the  land  of  exile.  Does  the  ambi- 
tious hero  who  discerns,  through  the  smoke  of  the  battle- 
field, the  walls  of  the  capitol  where  to-morrow  his  head  is  to 
be  encircled  with  the  diadem,  in  the  midst  of  a  people  intoxi- 
cated with  joy,  complain  of  his  fatigues,  does  he  even  feel 
the  blood  flowing  from  his  wounds  ?  Does  the  lover,  who  is 
going  to  receive  before  the  altar  the  vows  of  her  whom  he 
passionately  adores,  perceive  the  inconveniences  of  the  road 
or  the  inclemency  of  the  air?  How,  then,  can  the  soldier 
of  Christ  complain  of  the  difficulties  of  the  way,  he  who  is 
always  on  the  eve  of  being  crowned  king  of  heaven  and  of 
the  universe !  he  whom  the  chaste  embrace  of  infinite  beauty 
may  at  any  moment  plunge  into  an  eternal  ecstasy  ! 

Let  us  say,  then,  with  Montesquieu  :  "  Wonderful,  that  the 
Religion  which  seems  to  have  no  other  object  than  the  feli- 
city of  the  other  life,  should  yet  constitute  our  happiness  in 
this!" 


154          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

BEAUTY    OF    CHRISTIANITY. IDEA    OF    THE    BEAUTIFUL. 

ESSENTIAL    DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN    ANCIENT    AND 
CHRISTIAN    ART. — PAGAN    ARCHITECTURE. 

THE  beautiful,  that  divine  reflection  of  the  true,  that  flower 
of  which  goodness  is  the  fruit,  that  charm  so  powerful  over 
the  heart  of  man,  is  it  found  in  Christianity? 

A  volume  would  be  required  to  answer  this  question  ;  this 
volume  exists,  and  I  would  not  be  the  one  to  enter  into  com- 
petition with  the  author  of  the  Genie  du  Chrislianisme.  I 
will  limit  myself  to  one  idea  concerning  the  nature  of  the 
beautiful  and  the  distance  which  separates  Christian  from 
Pagan  art. 

As  man  is  so  constituted  that  he  can  find  his  happiness 
only  in  the  presence  and  enjoyment  of  supreme  perfection,  it 
follows  that  the  infinite  is  alone  capable  of  permanently  com- 
manding his  love,  and  that  an  object  can  only  please  him,  in 
proportion  as  it  is  real),y  or  apparently  related  to  the  arche- 
type of  all  beauty.  This  exclusive  predilection  for  the  infi- 
nite Being  is  revealed  in  a  thousand  ways.  It  is  this  which 
changes  the  most  lively  passion  into  indifference  as  soon  as 
the  object  is  too  well  known.  It  is  this  which  causes  veiled 
beauty  to  be  preferred  to  beauty  made  manifest*  It  is  this 

*  "  Who  does  not  know  that  beauty  divined  is  more  attractive  than 
beauty  visible  ?  What  man  has  not  frequently  remarked,  that  the 
woman  who  is  determined  to  satisfy  the  eye  more  than  the  imagination, 
is  wanting  in  taste  as  well  as  wisdom.  Vice  even  rewards  modesty,  by 
exaggerating  the  charms  which  she  veils."  De  Maistre,  Examen  de 
la  Philosophic  de  Bacon,  vol.  2d,  ch.  7. — "The  imagination  which 
embellishes  what  it  desires,  abandons  it  in  possession.  Except  the 
self-existing  Being,  there  is  nothing  beautiful  but  that  which  is  not. 
The  existence  of  finite  beings  is  so  meager  and  limited,  that  when  we 


BEAUTY    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  155 

which  leads  us,  in  the  arrangement  of  our  buildings  and  gar- 
dens, to  adopt  the  distribution  which  best  conceals  their  nar- 
rowness. "  The  most  delightful  park,"  Addison  has  some- 
where said,  "  wearies  us  as  soon  as  we  perceive  the  walls 
which  limit  its  inclosure,  we  can  only  breathe  freely  in  infinite 
space ! " 

Such  being  the  disposition  of  the  human  heart,  the  highest 
aim  of  art  is  to  avoid  too  definite  and  limited  forms,  and  to 
diffuse  over  the  finite  a  tinge  of  the  infinite,  without  falling 
into  the  vagueness  which  offends  our  love  of  the  real. 

Christian  genius  has  realized  this  in  the  fine  arts,  above  all 
in  architecture  and  music,  which  have  especially  lent  them- 
selves to  it.  Hence  its  superiority  in  the  first  of  these  depart- 
ments, and  also  in  the  last,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  of  it. 

The  Religious  idea,  among  pagans,  being  the  invention  of 
man,  the  artist  could  not  go  beyond  the  human  sphere ;  for 
the  imagination  is  only  kindled  at  the  fire  of  intelligence,  and 
the  form  cannot  transcend  the  idea.  Thus  their  most  cele- 
brated religious  works  have  a  great  defect,  that  of  having 
nothing  divine  in  them.  Their  temples  are  palaces  or  thea- 
tres ;  and  their  gods,  heroes. 

Go  to  the  Belvedere  and  contemplate  the  most  divine  statue 
which  ancient  sculpture  has  bequeathed  to  us.  At  the  sight 
of  this  solitary  prodigy,  you  will  perhaps  forget  the  universe,  for 
the  universe  has  nothing  so  beautiful ;  you  will  be  transported 
to  Delos,  to  the  sacred  woods  of  Lycia,*  everywhere,  except 

only  see  what  is,  we  are  never  moved.  Chimeras  adorn  real  objects, 
and  if  the  imagination  does  not  add  a  charm  to  what  strikes  us,  the 
sterile  pleasure  that  we  take  in  it,  is  limited  to  the  organ,  and  always 
leaves  the  heart  cold."  Rousseau,  Pensies, — Imagination. 

*  "  At  the  aspect  of  this  prodigy  of  art,  I  forgot  the  whole  universe. 
.  .  .  From  admiration  I  passed  into  ecstasy;  I  felt  my  breast  expand 
and  heave  ;  I  was  transported  to  Delos  and  the  sacred  woods  of  Lycia, 
those  places  which  Apollo  had  honored  with  his  presence."  (Winkel- 
mann,  Histoire  de  VArt,  livre  6e,  ch.  6.) 


156  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

to  heaven.  The  thought  of  the  serpent  Python  will  drive 
from  your  recollection  the  archer  with  the  inevitable  arrow, 
that  you  may  think  only  of  the  incomparable  artist,  and 
exclaim  :  "  Sublime  genius,  why  have  you  not  known  the  true 
Son  of  the  true  Father  of  gods  and  men,  who  descended 
upon  the  earth  to  overthrow  the  great  dragon  wJio  was  draw- 
ing the  whole  universe  into  tJie  infernal  abysses !  "  * — Let  us 
return  to  architecture. 

Durability  and  the  desire  to  astonish,  is  all  that  the  struc- 
tures of  Egypt,  as  gigantic  and  as  heavy  as  their  gods,  express. 

Graceful,  smiling,  voluptuous  as  their  mythology,  the  archi- 
tecture of  the  Greeks  has  aimed  at  nothing  but  to  please  the 
eye.  Their  temples,  of  an  admirable  regularity  of  outline, 
of  exquisite  delicacy  of  detail,  are,  like  the  gods  who  inhabit 
them,  nothing  but  the  creation  of  human  thought.  A  glance 
of  the  eye  is  sufficient  to  comprehend  them,  they  only  speak 
to  the  senses  ;  they  recall  nothing  but  the  artist.  The  grace- 
ful deities  whom  sculpture  has  introduced  into  them  did  not 
descend  from  the  empyrean,  or  if  they  originated  there,  they 
have  so  far  forgotten  their  origin,  and  are  so  well  acclimated 
among  men,  that  we  should  vainly  seek  in  them  an  aspiration 
towards  heaven. 

Properly  speaking,  the  Greeks  have  had  but  one  religious 
monument,  that  is,  one  which  excites  the  thought  of  God, 
it  is  the  altar  erected  to  the  unknown  God.\ 

The  fantastic  wandering  Arab,  a  passionate  lover  of  the 
marvellous,  has  impressed  himself  completely  on  his  aerial 
structures.  The  mosques  and  palaces  with  which  he  has 
covered  the  south  of  Spain,  are  only  a  version  of  the  Thou- 
sand and  one  Nights. 

Finally,  Egyptian  architecture  aspires  to  immortality,  but 

•  Et  projectus  est  draco  ille  magnus  .  .  .  qui  seducit  universum 
orbem.  (Apoc.  xii.  9.) 

t  Ignoto  Deo.     (Act.  xvii.  23.) 


CHRISTIAN    ARCHITECTURE.  157 

to  earthly  immortality.  The  architecture  of  Greece  only 
aims  to  embellish  our  terrestrial  dwelling  place.  The  Ara- 
bian soothes  the  imagination,  it  loves  to  surprise,  and  allures 
to  reverie.  Christian  architecture  alone  recalls  to  man  his 
destiny  and  makes  him  aspire  to  heaven. 
But  what  is  this  Christian  Architecture  ? 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 

CHRISTIAN   ARCHITECTURE. ITS    CHARACTER. 

THE  first  Christian  Churches  in  the  West,  says  the  author 
of  Etudes  Historiques,  were  only  remodelled  temples :  the 
pagan  worship  was  external,  the  decoration  of  the  temple 
was  superficial ;  the  Christian  worship  was  interior.  The 
columns  were  transferred  from  the  exterior  to  the  interior  of 
the  edifice.* 

For  several  centuries  these  alterations  were  sufficient. 
Edifices  could  not  be  erected  on  a  soil  constantly  trembling 
under  foot  of  the  barbarians.  To  the  tumult  of  wars  let  us 
add  the  terrible  tradition  which  announced,  in  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, the  end  of  the  world,  and  there  will  be  less  reason  for 
astonishment  at  the  slow  progress  of  Christian  architecture. 

When  once  the  world  was  settled,  and  believed  in  its  own 
continuance,  that  architecture  appeared,  the  wonderful  blend- 
ing of  all  architecture,  original,  fruitful,  inexhaustible,  myste- 
rious, infinite  as  the  religion  which  inspired  it,  and  which 
sought  to  manifest  herself  in  it. 

Timid  and  embarrassed  as  a  novice,  in  the  dome  of  Pisa, 
(eleventh  century,)  she  appeared  to  reach  her  climax  in  the 

*  Etude  vi.    2d  part,  torn.  3. 
14 


158          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


Cathedral  of  Cologne  and  the  Spire  of  Strasbourg  (thirteenth 
century).  I  say  she  appeared ;  for,  in  truth,  no  human  eye 
could  determine  her  climax.  Greek  architecture  choosing 
man  for  its  type,  could  not  rise  above  man.*  Christian  art, 
had  God  for  its  object,  and  by  this  extraordinary  boldness 
was  forced  always  to  ascend.  If  a  foolish  admiration  of 
pagan  monuments  had  not  checked  this  impulse,  if,  instead 
of  imitating  the  achievements  of  Greece,  the  Christian  inten- 
tion had  been  carried  out,  we  should  have  perhaps  religious 
edifices  which  would  be  to  the  Cathedral  of  Cologne,  what 
the  funeral  orations  of  Bossuet  are  to  the  legends  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 

The  historians  of  art,  during  the  two  last  centuries,  agree 
in  asserting  that  architecture  disappeared  with  the  empire  of 
the  West,  to  appear  only  with  the  sixteenth  century.  The 
gothic,  according  to  them,  is  less  an  art  than  the  absence  of 
all  art:  having  no  regularity,  no  proportion,  no  symmetry. 
Profound  writers !  what  would  you  think  of  him  who  should 
find  no  trace  of  good  sense  in  a  book,  because  every  word 
or  every  line  did  not  commence  with  the  same  letter  ?  Gothic 
structures  are  a  writing,  a  book :  learn  to  read  before  blaming 
the  author. 

For  example,  it  is  asked  why  in  our  most  beautiful  gothic 
churches  the  longitudinal  line  is  broken  at  its  upper  extremity, 
and  why  the  choir  and  sometimes  the  aisles  are  oblique  to  the 
nave.  As  if  those  who  raised  these  prodigious  pyramids 

*  It  is  from  the  noble  proportions  of  human  nature  that  those  of 
architecture  were  taken.  Man  furnished  the  proportions  of  the  Doric 
order  :  as  being  more  majestic  it  was  consecrated  to  gods  and  heroes. 
Woman,  more  slight  and  delicate,  gave  those  of  the  Ionic  order :  the 
latter  has  been  more  frequently  employed  in  the  temples  of  the  god- 
desses. The  Corinthian,  invented  by  Callimachus,  like  a  young  girl, 
fresh,  pure  and  beautiful,  is  only  composed  of  the  others,  but  more 
delicate  and  ornate."  (Lettres  d'ltalie,  torn.  v.  17SO.) 


CHRISTIAN    ARCHITECTURE.  159 

which  have  not  lost  their  perpendicular  for  six  centuries,  were 
not  acquainted  with  the  straight  line. 

The  architect  has  seen  and  intended  this  pretended  irregu- 
larity. Instead  of  a  cross  traced  as  a  square,  he  represents 
to  us  a  Man-God  expiring  on  the  wood  to  which  his  love 
and  our  crimes  affixed  him.  The  aisles  are  the  arms  open 
to  receive  the  world  and  bear  it  up  to  God ;  the  choir  is  the 
head  inclined  towards  the  right  ;  the  purple- stained  panes 
are  dropping  yet  with  his  blood ;  and  those  statues,  mute  with 
grief  and  astonishment,  or  cast  into  the  depth  of  their  niches  in 
the  attitude  of  profound  meditation,  plainly  announce  to  us, 
that  a  great  mystery  is  being  accomplished  there,  where  we 
are  only  looking  for  stones  artistically  arranged. 

Until  a  Champollion  comes  to  reveal  to  us  the  mysterious 
sense  concealed  under  these  hieroglyphics,  let  us  content  our- 
selves with  the  prevailing  thought.  What  do  these  colonnades 
upon  colonnades  signify,  these  galleries  upon  galleries  ?  They 
would  scale  heaven.  What  is  the  signification  of  that  multi- 
tude of  statues  of  men  and  animals,  rising  above  each  other 
in  the  midst  of  a  forest  of  foliage  and  productions  of  every 
kind  ?  It  is  humanity,  it  is  all  nature,  pressing  with  immense 
force  towards  its  author. 

What  is  the  ogive  which  the  gothic  has  preferred  to  the 
circular  arch,  an  unbending  line,  which  turns  its  back  to 
heaven  and  stretches  its  two  extremities  towards  the  earth  ? 
It  consists  of  two  lines,  which  indefinitely  approaching  the 
vertical  only  bend  to  meet,  to  support,  and  uplift  each  other  to 
the  greatest  possible  height. 

But,  it  will  be  said,  what  harmony  in  that  multitude  of  tri- 
fling ornaments,  no  one  of  which  is  in  keeping  with  another  ? 
The  harmony  of  creation,  a  harmony  as  vast  as  the  invi- 
sible world  of  which  it  is  the  material  symbol :  it  presents 
only  irregularity  and  disorder  to  the  human  eye  incapable  of 
seizing  its  magnificent  outline.  Our  most  vast  Gothic  structures 


160  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

are  only,  if  I  may  so  express  myself,  the  first  story  of  the  edifice 
sketched  by  Christian  genius,  the  rest  is  lost  in  the  depth  of 
heaven. 

Vast  breadth  of  outline  and  variety  and  perfection  of  detail 
are  the  two  distinctive  traits  of  the  Gothic,  and  such  are  also 
the  characteristics  of  the  great  work  of  creation. 

It  may  perhaps  be  said  that  in  speaking  thus,  we  censure 
the  application  of  the  Greek  style  to  Christian  edifices,  a  style 
adopted  in  Italy  and  which  has  produced  so  many  master 
pieces.  This  is  not  our  idea. 

Italy  filled  with  the  most  beautiful  monuments  of  ancient 
art ;  Rome  especially,  enriched  by  its  emperors  with  all  that 
was  greatest  in  the  conception  and  execution  of  Greek  and 
Roman  genius,  could  not  abandon  that  style,  without  repudiat- 
ing her  inestimable  inheritance  of  models  and  materials. 

Moreover  it  was  part  of  the  plan  of  Providence  that  the 
monuments  of  Paganism  should  serve  as  trophies  for  its  con- 
queror. It  must  needs  be  that  the  Egyptian  obelisk  of  Cali- 
gula should  adorn  the  square  of  the  church  of  St  Peter,  that 
the  columns  of  the  tomb  of  Adrian  should  go  to  ornament  the 
grand  nave  of  the  Basilica  of  St.  Paul,  at  the  same  time,  that 
the  columns  erected  to  Marcus  Aurelius  and  Trajan,  should 
serve  as  pedestals  to  the  statues  of  the  two  apostles. 

But  while  adopting  Pagan  architecture,  the  Italian  genius 
has  christianized  it  by  giving  it  that  wonderful  grandeur,  and 
that  character  of  infinity,  which  was  unknown  to  the  ancients. 
The  Pantheon  was  too  low,  it  was  raised  several  hundred  feet 
higher ;  the  great  circular  eye  which  terminated  it  so  coldly, 
was  replaced  by  a  magnificent  dome,  and  the  cross  ascending 
from  it  into  the  air  to  the  height  of  four  hundred  feet,  an- 
nounces to  the  world,  that  it  has  surpassed  the  Pantheon  by 
twice  its  height. 

Yes,  Christian  genius,  original  even  when  it  imitates,  expands, 
and  sanctifies  whatever  it  touches  ;  its  doctrine  uniting  the 


LITURGIC    LITERATURE.  16] 

truths  which  were  scattered  up  and  down  through  human 
creeds,  presented  them  as  a  whole  unknown  to  the  human 
mind,  in  the  same  manner  as  its  architecture  embracing  all 
the  great  achievements  of  antiquity,  constructs  from  them 
a  whole  which  overwhelms  with  admiration  its  most  fanati- 
cal detractors.* 


CHAPTER    L. 

CHRISTIAN    MUSIC. LITURGIC    LITERATURE. 

MANY  of  our  readers  will  be  tempted  to  smile  when  they 
hear  us  speak  of  the  beauties  of  the  plain  chant  of  our 
churches.  Let  us  quote,  then,  a  man  above  suspicion,  since, 
from  his  own  confessions,  he  is  at  present  very  far  from  the 
Christian  faith. 

"  It  is  especially  in  the  plain  chant,"  says  M.  Adolphe  Gue- 
raut,  "  that  we  must  look  for  the  pure  musical  inspiration  of 
Christianity,  an  inspiration  simple  and  sublime,  which  only  de- 
lights in  the  bare  arches  of  the  old  cathedrals,  which  blends  and 
harmonizes  with  the  grave  and  slow  movement  of  the  priests, 

*  The  most  violent  enemy  of  Christian  Rome,  Dupaty,  acknowledges, 
in  this  point  the  superiority  of  Christian  genius.  "  Here  is  the  Pan- 
theon," said  he,  "  which  astonished  the  Roman  imagination  and  did  not 
astonish  that  of  Michael  Angelo  !  That  Pantheon,  which  was  the 
thought  of  the  age  of  Augustus  and  was  afterwards  only  one  of  the 
thoughts  of  Michael  Angelo,  the  dome  of  his  Church  of  St.  Peter. 
'  You  wonder  at  the  magnitude  of  the  Pantheon,'  said  he  to  the  nations, 
'  You  are  astonished  that  the  earth  can  support  it :  I  will  place  it  in 
the  air.'  The  genius  of  Michael  Angelo  said  this,  and  his  hand  ex- 
ecuted it."  Lettres  sur  Italic,  lettre  87.  But  to  say  and  do  these  things, 
as  to  paint  the  Universal  Judgment,  it  was  necessary  that  Michael 
Angelo  should  be  a  Christian. 

14* 


162          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  holy  obscurity  of  the  place,  the  colored  glass,  the  sculp- 
tured saints,  and  even  the  stone  which  is  alone  capable  of 
answering  to  the  full  and  resounding  tones  of  the  organ — the 
organ,  a  truly  religious  instrument,  whose  manly  voice  and 
majestic  charm  is  far  from  being  replaced  by  the  flexibility 
and  brilliant  vivacity  of  our  orchestras."* 

The  same  writer  answers,  in  a  manner  as  novel  as  solid,  to 
the  reproach  often  cast  upon  the  ecclesiastical  chant,  of  having, 
by  adapting  itself  to  prose,  deprived  the  music  of  that  rhythmi- 
cal and  measured  movement,  which  constitutes  its  charm  and 
to  which  the  ancients  attached  so  much  importance.  Accord- 
ing to  him,  rhythm,  giving  to  music  a  movement,  a  form,  a 
sensible  and  definite  attraction,  characterizes  essentially  the 
music  of  action :  it  is  through  this  that  it  has  the  power  to 
strike,  to  seize,  to  move.  But  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is 
dramatic,  it  tends  to  settle,  limit,  and  repress  activity  of 
thought,  it  subjects  the  soul  to  the  senses  by  exciting  the  lat- 
ter too  much,  and  thus  counteracts  the  aim  of  religion,  which 
addresses  itself  to  the  senses  only,  that  it  ma}7,  through  them, 
attract  the  soul. — Let  this  intelligent  author  speak  for  himself. 

"  It  is  remarkable  that,  in  the  ancient  chants  of  the  church, 
rhythm  is  almost  entirely  wanting,  or  at  least  it  is  so  vague, 
indistinct  and  confused,  that  the  ear  can  scarcely  recognize  it. 
Hence  it  is,  doubtless,  that  these  melodies  predispose  so  power- 
fully to  meditation,  prayer  and  ecstasy,  nearly  all  are  written 
in  the  minor  key  and  in  an  undecided  and  undulating  intona- 
tion, they  bring  to  the  soul  only  plaintive  and  sad  inflections, 
following  each  other  in  a  capricious  succession  like  sighs, 
sobs,  or  emotions  of  the  heart ;  they  have  something  intense 
without  either  form  or  outline,  and  which  far  from  abandon- 
ing the  senses  to  the  reiterated  attacks  of  rhythm,  which  con- 
tantly  agitate  them,  pass  over  the  organs,  if  I  may  thus  express 

*  De  la  Musique.  sacrie  et  de  Ja  Musique  profane,  by  M.  Adolphe 
Gu£raut.  (Revue  EncyclopSdigue,  1832.) 


LTTURGIC    LITERATURE.  163 

myself,  without  touching  them,  absorb  them  and  blunt  them, 
for  the  advantage  of  the  soul,  which  disengaged  from  their 
power,  forgetful  of  time  and  place,  plunges  into  endless  contem- 
plation. They  have  something  fluent,  ethereal,  dreamy  and 
transparent  as  the  smoke  of  incense  which  ascends  towards 
heaven  while  diffusing  itself  around."* 

Let  us  leave,  then,  to  the  music  of  our  theatres,  its  dramatic 
beauties,  its  beautiful  orchestral  effect.  As  it  only  sings  of  man 
with  his  passions  and  his  caprices,  it  has  need  of  mechanical 
resources  to  fascinate  the  pubic  mind  and  veil  the  nudity  of 
its  hero.  Religion  sings  of  God :  the  boundless  richness  of 
the  subject  forbids  the  vain  affectations  of  art.  To  detach 
the  mind  and  heart  from  the  earth,  to  transport  them  to  the 
footstool  of  the  Eternal,  and  to  make  us  forget  ourselves 
in  presence  of  the  Supreme  Majesty,  which  is  alone  wor- 
thy of  commanding  our  thoughts  and  feelings,  is  the  aim 
of  religious  music.  Catholic  and  universal  as  the  Christian 
doctrines,  it  belongs  to  the  ignorant  as  well  as  the  culti- 
vated, to  the  savage  of  the  desert  as  well  as  to  the  inhabi- 
tant of  the  city.  It  must  then  free  itself  from  the  elaborate 
combinations  and  capricious  variations  of  art,  to  attach  itself 
to  excellences  universally  and  constantly  felt. 

What  we  say  of  the  music  applies  also  to  the  words.  Cer- 
tainly we  should  not  go  to  our  missals,  nor  to  the  hymns 
of  our  anthem-books  to  study  the  richness  and  elegance  of 
diction  belonging  to  Virgil  and  Horace ;  but  under  a  prosaic 
and  negligent  form,  what  glow  of  inspiration  !  what  burn- 
ing waves  of  poetry !  what  depth  of  thought !  what  lively 
imagery  !  and  more  than  all  what  pathos !  f 

*  De  la  Musique  Sacree,  &c. 

f  Those  who  consider  this  eulogium  on  the  literary  wealth  of  our 
ancient  liturgies  as  exaggerated,  should  read,  beside  the  remarks  of  M. 
Adolphe  Gueraut,  cited  above,  the  book  entitled :  De  la  Literature  des 
Offices  divins.  (Paris,  1829.) 


164          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

The  expression  is,  like  that  of  our  holy  books,  so  appropriate 
to  the  subject,  that  notwithstanding  its  inelegance,  it  could  only 
be  replaced  by  itself.  If  there  is  anything  to  be  reformed 
in  the  style  of  our  old  liturgies,  it  is  the  reformation  which 
talent  purely  human  has  seen  fit  to  introduce  into  them. 

Finally,  in  poetry,  as  in  music  and  architecture,  Christianity 
has  neglected  the  elegances  of  detail,  and  forms  too  definite, 
too  earthly,  which  are  only  adapted  to  charm  the  senses  and 
distract  the  mind.  Aspiring  uninterruptedly  towards  heaven, 
from  whence  it  descended,  burning  with  the  desire  to  uplift 
entire  humanity  to  the  same  elevation,  it  has  drawn  from  the 
sentiment  of  its  mission,  from  the  nature  of  the  human  heart, 
whose  depths  it  has  so  well  measured,  and  from  the  grandeur 
of  God  whom  it  proclaims,  those  divine  traits,  those  immor- 
tal beauties,  which,  soaring  above  time  and  place,  belong  to 
all  ages  and  all  countries,  and  like  true  sublimity,  make  them- 
selves felt  by  the  lowest  intellect,  while  they  enrapture  the 
most  exalted  souls. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

RECAPITULATION. WHAT   IS    WANTING    TO    CHRISTIANITY    IN 

ORDER    TO    BE    BELIEVED. OBJECTIONS    OF   UNBELIEVERS. 

CHRISTIANITY  then  satisfies  all  the  legitimate  demands  of 
the  human  heart 

Its  doctrine,  so  luminous  as  to  lead  us  to  the  abodes  of 
eternal  light,  which  it  points  out  to  us  beyond  the  darkness 
of  the  tomb,  subdues  every  intellect  which  will  examine  it  in 
the  silence  of  the  passions;  and  for  the  eighteen  centuries 
that  it  has  challenged  human  investigation,  it  has  as  yet  only 
suffered  the  opposition  of  ignorance  and  infidelity. 


OBJECTIONS    OF    UNBELIEVERS.  165 


Its  morality,  which  is  only  opposed  to  our  vices,  leads  us 
to  happiness  by  the  path  of  virtue.  The  blessings  which  it 
has  diffused  throughout  the  world,  and  the  pure  joys  which 
it  bestows  on  hearts  obedient  to  its  voice,  are  sufficient  to 
render  credible  the  sovereign  felicity  which  it  promises  us  in 
a  better  world. 

It  increases  the  value  of  our  earthly  abode,  by  leading  us 
to  regard  it  as  the  entrance  to  eternity,  and  the  divine  beauty 
of  its  worship,  reflecting  here  below  the  harmonies  of  the 
celestial  city,  effectually  dispels  the  fatigues  of  the  pilgrimage. 

Why  then  does  it  fail  to  captivate  all  hearts  ?  "  It  needs 
only  to  be  known,"  said  the  most  eloquent  of  its  defenders, 
sixteen  centuries  ago. 

The  challenge  which  Tertullian  gave  to  the  Roman  em- 
perors, to  produce  an  idolater  who  had  studied  Christianity 
thoroughly  without  becoming  a  Christian,*  we  can  still  offer 
to  the  unbelievers  of  our  day.  Show  us  one  man  converted 
from  faith  to  unbelief  by  a  conscientious  study  of  religion ! 
On  the  other  hand,  to  pass  from  the  idolater  of  Tertullian  to 
the  philosopher  La  Harpe,  we  could  show  thousands  of  un- 
believers whom  study  has  conquered  to  the  faith,  and  who 
will  say  with  the  latter :  "  Examine  as  I  have  done,  and  like 
me  you  will  believe." 

To  the  objections  with  which  the  skepticism  of  Voltaire  has 
filled  thousands  of  volumes,  that  are  now  read  only  among 
the  lowest  persons, Voltaire  himself  furnishes  the  only  answer 
they  deserve.  "  Take  from  these  numerous  volumes,"  said 
he,  "an  enormous  mass  of  abominations,  what  would  re- 
main ?  and  take  moreover  from  what  remains  the  objections 
of  ignorance  and  infidelity,  there  will  remain  nothing."  j- 

Among  those  objections  however,  some  are  too  current  to 
allow  even  the  brevity  of  this  work  to  pass  them  over  in  silence. 
Some  attack  the  doctrine  of  Christianity,  others  its  morality. 
*  Jlpologet,  I.  f  (Euv.  torn,  xxxii.  p.  47. 


166  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

1st.  The  doctrine  is  accused,  in  the  first  place,  of  doing 
violence  to  reason,  by  subjecting  it  to  the  belief  of  incompre- 
hensible mysteries,  of  checking  the  progress  of  knowledge, 
by  preventing  thought  from  overstepping  the  inflexible  limit 
within  which  faith  imprisons  it ;  2dly,  of  disfiguring  the 
Divine  character,  by  making  of  the  Creator  a  partial  and 
cruel  being  who,  after  having  given  a  religion  to  one  small 
nation  concealed  in  the  mountains  of  Palestine,  condemns 
without  pity  all  other  nations,  and  who,  for  eighteen  hundred 
years,  has  condemned  to  eternal  fire  millions  of  idolaters 
guilty  of  being  ignorant  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ ;  3dly,  of 
fomenting  fanaticism  and  intolerance,  by  representing  those 
who  have  the  misfortune  not  to  believe,  as  so  many  enemies 
of  God,  slaves  of  Satan,  and  firebrands  of  hell.  And  in  this 
connection  a  long  enumeration  is  made  of  wars,  massacres, 
and  crimes,  for  which  religion  has  served  as  a  pretext. 

2d.  Christian  morality  is  reproached:  1st,  with  favoring 
despotism,  by  condemning  all  rebellion,  and  not  permitting 
the  worst  princes  to  be  viewed  in  any  other  light  than  the 
inviolable  ministers  of  Divine  justice;  2dly,  of  depriving 
society  of  all  life  and  progress,  by  the  profound  contempt 
required  of  a  Christian  for  everything  which  belongs  to  the 
affairs  of  this  lower  world,  in  which  he  is  permitted  to  see 
only  a  prison,  and  a  place  of  exile. 


CHAPTER    LII. 

IS    FAITH    IN   MYSTERIES   AN    OUTRAGE    UPON   REASON? 

I  WOULD  ask  of  those  who  complain  of  the  incomprehen- 
sibleness  of  certain  Christian  truths,  if  there  is  any  truth  in 
the  natural  order  which  they  entirely  comprehend. 


FAITH    IN    MYSTERIES.  1G7 

Would  human  intelligence,  which  sees  the  whole  of  nothing, 
which  is  unable  to  comprehend  itself,  pretend  to  comprehend 
God !  Everything  in  us  and  about  us  offers  to  it  only  im- 
penetrable mysteries ;  it  is  bewildered  by  a  drop  of  water,  or 
a  grain  of  sand  ;  and  should  there  be  nothing  in  heaven  con- 
cealed from  it  !* 

Let  a  mathematician  of  the  first  rank  undertake  to  reveal 
to  us  the  deepest  secrets  of  the  science  of  the  Newtons  and 
Keplers,  we  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  to  see  mysteries 
fall  fast  from  his  lips.  However  startling  some  of  his  asser- 
tions might  appear,  we  still  should  compassionate  the  pre- 
sumptuousness  of  one  who,  having  scarcely  read  the  arith- 
metic of  Bezout,  should  dare  to  dispute  with  the  sublime  lec- 
turer the  truth  of  his  theorems.  But  when  the  Supreme 
Intelligence,  before  which  all  the  Newtons  are  as  moles, 
deigns  to  reveal  to  us  some  of  the  secrets  of  his  Divine  being, 
we  yield  nothing  to  the  authority  of  the  master ;  and  if  his 
words  jar  upon  our  ignorance,  even  in  the  slightest  degree, 
they  will  meet  only  the  smile  of  incredulity !  Could  the  ex- 
travagance of  pride  go  farther  than  this!  Do  we  pretend  to 
know  as  much  as  God ! 

No,  the  skeptic  will  answer :  but  when  God  speaks  to  man 
it  is  the  duty  of  his  wisdom  to  place  itself  within  our  reach ; 
to  propose  only  useful  truths,  adapted  to  enlighten  and  im- 
prove us ;  to  speak  to  us  a  supernatural  language,  and  tell  us 
unintelligible  things,  is  an  ostentation  of  science  unworthy  of 
an  infinitely  wise  Being.  If  God  in  his  revelations,  had  pro- 
posed to  himself  only  to  crush  our  great  enemy,  pride,  and 
oblige  us  to  recognize  humbly  our  ignorance  in  the  presence 
of  his  infinite  wisdom,  would  it  not  be  a  useful  object?  Is 
not  faith,  the  worship  of  intelligence,  the  immolation  we  make 

*  Difficile  jEstimamus  quae  in  terra  sunt:  et  quae  in  prospectu  sunt, 
invenimus  cum  labore.  Quse  autem  in  coelis  sunt,  quis  investigabit  ? 
(Sap.  ix.  16.) 


163  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

of  our  feeble  light  to  the  light  of  eternal  reason  ?*  Now 
what  merit  would  there  be  in  submitting  to  the  Divine  word, 
if  it  offered  to  the  mind  the  irresistible  force  of  evidence  ?f 

But  Christian  revelation  has  not  this  character  of  unintel- 
ligibility  attributed  to  it  by  the  unbeliever.  What  are  a  few 
mysteries  in  the  midst  of  this  abundance  of  historical,  moral, 
and  philosophical  knowledge,  which  the  holy  scripture  con- 
tains, that  inexhaustible  source  of  light,  from  which  philoso- 
phers themselves  have  borrowed  everything  except  their  errors! 

Are  these  mysteries  at  all  more  unintelligible  than  many 
others  in  the  natural  order,  which  no  one  thinks  of  calling  in 
question  ?| 

Nay,  more,  it  is  to  the  knowledge  of  these  mysteries  that 
we  are  indebted  for  the  immense  light  which  Christianity, 
even  according  to  its  enemies,  has  shed  over  the  past,  present, 
and  future  condition  of  man.  "  Certainly  nothing  more 
rudely  jars  us  than  original  sin,"  said  Pascal ;  "  and  yet  with- 
out this  mystery,  the  most  incomprehensible  of  all,  we  are 
incomprehensible  to  ourselves.  The  labyrinthine  thread  of 
our  condition  turns  and  winds  among  the  folds  of  this  mys- 
tery ;  hence  man  is  more  incomprehensible  without  this 
mystery,  than  this  mystery  is  incomprehensible  to  man."§ 

Take  from  Christianity  the  fundamental  fact  of  the  trinity 
of  divine  persons  in  the  unity  of  nature,  and  of  the  hypo- 
static  union  of  one  of  these  persons  with  the  human  nature, 
the  Gospel  becomes  an  insolvable  enigma. 

*  Rousseau,  in  other  respects  so  great  an  enemy  to  mysteries,  con- 
fessed the  necessity  and  the  merit  of  this  sacrifice,  when  he  exclaimed : 
"  Being  of  beings,  .  .  .  the  most  worthy  use  of  my  reason  is  to  anni- 
hilate myself  before  thee :  it  is  the  delight  of  my  weakness  to  find 
myself  overwhelmed  with  thy  grandeur."  (Emile,  tome  iii.  p.  ISO.) 

f  Haec  est  laus  fidei,  si  quid  creditur  non  videtur:  nam  quid  mag- 
num est,  si  id  creditur  quod  videtur.  (S.  Augustin,  Tract.  78,  in  John.) 

J  As  above,  ch.  38. 

§  Pensees,  tit.  3d.  8. 


IS    FAITH    AN    OBSTACLE    TO    KNOWLEDGE  ?     1G9 

Long  since  it  was  said,  that  the  highest  dogmas  of  Chria 
tianity  are  like  the  sun :  impenetrable  in  their  essence,  they 
enlighten  and  vivify  those  who  walk  with  simplicity  in  their 
light,  and  are  dark  only  for  the  bold  eye  which  would  pene- 
trate them.  If  we  reject  them,  we  must  reject  Christianity, 
and  reject  God;  for  ,can  we  better  comprehend  an  eternal 
infinite  creative  being,  &c.  ?  Universal  absurdity,  intellectual 
imbecility,  and  idioc}r,  are  the  lowest  terms  of  unbelief. 

I  shall  not  waste  time  in  refuting  the  sophisms  so  often  re 
futed,  by  which  Bayle  in  his  Dictionnaire,  and  Rousseau  in 
his  Lctlre  a  I'Archeveque  de  Paris,  attempted  to  demonstrate 
the  flagrant  opposition  of  our  mysteries  to  the  first  principles 
of  reason.  To  him  who  dares  yet  to  accuse  us  of  believing 
that  three  make  but  one,  and  that  the  part  is  greater  than  the 
whole,  I  should  say :  "  My  friend,  go  to  your  parish  catechism, 
or  rather  apply  to  those  simple  persons  who  have  just  finished 
it,  and  they  will  teach  you  that  you  are  only  a  simpleton." 


CHAPTER    LIII. 

IS    FAITH  AN   OBSTACLE   TO    THE    PROGRESS    OF    KNOWLEDGE  ? 
GALILEO. 

As  to  the  reproach  which  is  often  cast  on  Christian  faith, 
that  it  checks  freedom  of  thought  and  impedes  the  progress 
of  knowledge,  it  must  be  avowed  that  it  is  ill  supported  by 
facts. 

If  faith  is  an  incubus  upon  the  intellect,  whence  comes  the 
immense  intellectual  superiority  of  Christian  over  infidel  na- 
tions? Whence  comes  it  that  one  Christian  catechist  is 
sufficient  to  reduce  to  silence  the  most  skilful  philosophers  of 
India  and  China,  as  one  English  corporal  is  sufficient  to  set 

15 


170          THE    SOLUTION    OP    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

at  naught  all  their  military  science.  Whence  comes  it  that 
among  Christian  nations  it  is  precisely  those  whose  faith  is 
the  least  flexible,  who  find  themselves  placed. highest  on  the 
intellectual  scale  ?*  Whence  comes  it  that  in  the  same  nation 
the  greatest  names  in  science,  those  most  universally  honored, 
are  Christian  names? 

Who  would  dare,  in  scientific  and  literary  departments,  to 
put  on  the  same  level  the  freethinkers  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  the  believers  of  the  seventeenth!  Wre  could  not 
without  injustice  despise  the  remarkable  talents  of  Voltaire 
and  Rousseau ;  but  what  have  they  gained,  or  rather  what 
have  they  not  lost,  in  their  ferocious  contest  against  Chris- 
tianity ?  For  what  metaphysical,  political,  or  moral  truth  are 
we  indebted  to  their  incredulity  ?  What  was  the  fate  of 
science  and  literature  under  their  direction  ?  a  river  of  mud 
which  rolled  over  diamonds.^ 

From  this  enormous  mass  of  "  complete  works,"  the  man 
of  sense  and  taste  will  choose  the  diamonds,  that  is,  a  few 
dramas,  which  he  will  rank  after  those  of  Corneille  and  Ra- 
cine ;  a  few  histories,  which  he  will  class  among  his  agreeable 
stories;  some  eloquent  pages  almost  always  Christian,  and 
the  rest  will  serve  as  food  for  worms. 

Nothing  can  be  imagined  more  fatal  to  the  mind,  than 
liberty  of  thought  as  the  unbeliever  understands  it ;  that  is, 
the  absence  of  fixed  principles  upon  the  important  point  of 
religion.  Genius  without  convictions  is  a  fire  without  fuel, 

O 

an  architect  without  materials.  Give  it  great  truths,  it  will 
send  forth  floods  of  light ;  leave  it  in  doubt,  it  will  be  extin- 
guished or  only  give  out  smoke. 

"Everything  is  floating  at  the  sport  of  chance,"  Seneca 
has  well  said,  "in  a  mind  deprived  of  principles;  hence 

*  This  is  demonstrated,  history  in  hand,  by  the  Protestant  Cobbett. 
(Letters  on  the  History  of  the  Reformation,  letter  1st.) 

*  De  Maistre,  Exan\en  de  la  philosophic  de  Bpcon*  torn,  ii,  ch-  v« 


IS    FAITH    AN    OBSTACLE    TO    KNOWLEDGE?     171 

dogmas  are  indispensable  to  give  to  genius  a  firm  and  vigor- 
ous action."* 

I  would  ask  any  man  of  good  sense  if  the  child  who  knows 
his  catechism,  has  not  ideas  infinitely  more  rational  and  more 
elevated  concerning  God,  man,  and  the  universe,  than  the 
pretended  freethinker,  who  can  neither  tell  you  why  nor  how 
he  exists,  whether  he  is  a  spiritual  being  or  an  animal,  whe- 
ther he  is  to  die  like  a  brute  or  live  after  death  ?  We  see  him 
occupying  himself  with  these  very  interesting  questions,  but 
the  time  employed  in  the  examination  is  lost  to  science.  Is 
it  said,  that  in  sounding  the  depths  of  metaphysics  and  morals 
he  will  make  useful  discoveries?  But  what  metaphysical  or 
moral  truth  have  philosophers  discovered  ?  Have  they  estab- 
lished anything  but  doubts  during  the  ages  in  which  they  have 
been  promising  us  a  complete  system  of  doctrine. 

If  instead  of  fixing  his  attention  on  such  very  grave  ques- 
tions, the  freethinker  boasts  of  forgetting  them,  as  is  very 
often  the  case ;  if  he  has  only  a  stupid  what  is  it  to  me  for  a 
resolution  of  the  important  problem  of  his  destiny,  what  can 
we  expect  great  from  such  an  animal. 

We  are  told  of  atheists  distinguished  in  the  sciences.  But 
is  a  man  a  genius  because  he  has  discovered  a  new  planet, 
calculated  the  motion  of  the  stars,  increased  the  list  of  ele- 
mentary substances,  or  invented  a  new  formula  or  a  machine  ? 
The  man  who  finds  nothing  but  matter  in  the  universe,  will 
see  only  facts  in  it,  and  will  only  think  of  particulars ; 
he  will  possess  nothing  of  science  but  its  tactics. 

Where  are  to  be  found  names  like  those  of  Roger  Bacon, 
Kepler,  Copernicus,  Galileo,  Kircher,  Linneus,  Newton, 
Descartes,  Boyle,  Pascal,  Leibnitz,  Gregory  of  St.  Vincent, 
Ealer,  Bernouilli,  Boscowich,  all  creators  or  promoters  of 
science,  and  all  thoroughly  Christian  ? 

*  Quae  res  communem  sensum  facit,  eadem  perfectum,  certarum 
rerun)  persuasio,  sine  qua  omnia  in  animo  mutant.  Necessaria  ergo 
sunt  decrela,  quae  dant  aniir.is  inflexible  judicium.  (F.p.  xcv.) 


172  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Would  any  one  dare  to  speak  of  Galileo  as  crushed  by  the 
anathemas  of  Rome,  for  maintaining  the  system  of  Coperni- 
cus, after  it  has  more  than  once  been  demonstrated  from 
positive  testimony  that  "The  sovereign  Pontiffs  far  from 
retarding  the  knowledge  of  the  true  system  of  the  world, 
have  on  the  contrary  greatly  advanced  it,  and  that  during 
two  whole  centuries,  three  Popes  and  three  Cardinals  have 
successively  sustained,  encouraged  and  recompensed  both 
Copernicus  himself  and  the  different  astronomers  who  were 
more  or  less  successful  precursors  of  this  great  man ;  so  that 
it  is  in  a  great  measure  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  that 
we  are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  the  system  of  the 
world?"* 

As  to  Galileo,  if  he  were  condemned  by  the  Inquisition,  a 
special  tribunal  in  which  no  Catholic  recognizes  the  right  to 
fulminate  anathemas  in  matters  of  doctrine,  it  is  satisfactorily 
proved  that  it  was  not  for  having  adopted  the  Copernican 
system,  but  for  wishing  to  form  from  it  a  sort  of  dogma 
demonstrable  by  Scripture ;  so  that  in  this  discussion,  it  was 
the  Inquisition  itself  which  defended  liberty  of  opinion.-}1 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

IS    THE    GOD    OF    CHRISTIANS   A    PARTIAL    OR    CRUEL    GOD  ? 

To  say  that  before  Jesus  Christ,  God  was  solely  occupied 
with  the  salvation  of  the  Jews,  and  that  he  has  punished  and 
still  punishes  in  infidels  the  involuntary  ignorance  of  a  revel- 

*  De  Maistre,  Examen,  &c. 

t  Beside  De  Maistre,  the  Protestant  Mallet  Dupan  has  written  on 
this  subject.  (Mercure  de  France,  No.  29,  17  April,  1784.)— Tira- 
boschi,  (Storia  delta  Letteratura  Ital.  torn.  Sth.) — But  especially  the 
Letters  of  Galileo  himself. 


IS  GOD  PARTIAL  OR  CRUEL  ?         173 

ation  made  whether  to  Jews  or  Christians,  shows  total  igno- 
rance both  of  Bible  history  and  the  first  principles  of  Christian 
doctrine. 

I  will  not  cite  the  innumerable  passages  of  Scripture  which 
represent  to  us  Jehovah  as  the  common  Father  of  the  nations, 
desirous  of  the  salvation  of  all  his  children,  and  who,  with- 
out distinction  of  Jew  and  Gentile  shows  himself  rich  in  com- 
passion towards  all  those  who  invoke  him,  and  makes  every 
effort  that  nations,  as  well  as  individuals  shall  not  have  cause 
to  impute  to  him  their  ruin.*  Let  facts  speak  for  themselves. 

From  Adam  till  the  call  of  Abraham,  that  is,  more  than 
two  thousand  years,  we  do  not  see  that  God  had  made  any 
other  distinction  among  human  families  than  that  which  merit 
and  virtue  demands.  It  was  when  the  numerous  generations 
descended  from  Noah,  deaf  to  the  voice  of  reason  and  patri- 
archal traditions,  sullied  by  monstrous  rites  the  earth,  still 
bleeding  from  the  blows  of  Divine  justice,  that  God  chose 
a  man  who  lived  pure  in  the  midst  of  universal  corruption,  to 
preserve  in  his  family,  along  with  the  primitive  history  of  the 
world,  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  and  the  fundamental 
doctrine  of  the  promise  of  a  Redeemer. 

The  immense  posterity  of  Adam,  which  was  the  depository 
of  life  and  blessedness  one  day  to  be  diffused  over  all  na- 
tions,f  was  not,  as  has  been  supposed,  a  small  nation,  buried 
in  an  obscure  country.  Placed  on  the  confines  of  Europe, 
Asia  and  Africa,  in  constant  relations  with  the  Egyptians, 

*  Qui  omnes  homines  vult  salvos  fieri,  et  ad  agnitioncm  veritatis 
venire.  (I.  Tim.  ii.  4.) — Non  enim  est  distinctio  Judoei  et  Grseci :  nam 
idem  Dominus  omnium,  dives  in  omnes  qui  invocant  ilium.  (Rom.  x. 
12.) — Quis  tibi  imputabit,  si  perierint  nationes,  quas  tu  fecisti  ?  Non 
enim  est  alius  Deus  quam  tu,  cui  cura  est  de  omnibus,  &,c.  (Sap.  xii. 
12  ) — Whoever  reads  the  book  of  Wisdom,  will  see  what  God  did  in 
ancient  times  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  Gentiles,  and  render  their  blind- 
ness inexcusable. 

f  In  te  benedicentur  universal  cognationes  terrae.  (Gen.  xii.  3.) 
15* 


174          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

who  were  famous  for  their  power  and  wisdom,  with  the  Phe- 
nicians  whose  vessels  covered  the  seas,  with  the  Assyrians 
and  Persians,  who  were  successively  masters  of  Asia,  the 
Jewish  nation  was  still  by  the  remarkable  vicissitudes  of  its 
existence  like  a  Pharos  elevated  in  the  midst  of  the  world  to 
dispel  the  darkness  of  idolatry. 

We  learn  from  profane  historians  that  the  name  of  Abra- 
ham was  celebrated  throughout  all  the  East;  and  the  first 
apologists  of  Christianity  proved  to  the  pagans  that  their 
wise  men  had  culled  the  flower  of  their  doctrine  from  the 
books  of  the  Jews.* 

At  the  moment  when  the  constantly  increasing  progress 
of  error  had  nearly  quenched  the  last  light  of  ancient  tradi- 
tion, the  ten  tribes  who  formed  the  kingdom  of  Israel  were 
scattered  throughout  the  vast  countries  of  Asia.f  A  century 
later  the  nation  of  Judah  suffered  the  same  fate.  Finally, 
under  the  Grecian  empire,  the  Bible  was  translated  into  the 
language  then  universal,  and  among  all  the  nations  Jewish 
colonies  were  found  to  confirm  the  wonderful  narratives  of 
this  extraordinary  book.J 

So  many  means  of  salvation  were  not  offered  to  the  unbe- 
lieving in  vain.  We  see  in  the  sacred  writings,  that  a  great 
number  of  Gentiles  adored  the  true  God,  some  by  following 
the  practices  of  the  Jewish  law,  others  by  confining  them- 
selves to  the  natural  law  joined  to  a  faith  in  the  Messiah  who 
was  to  come.§  It  is  a  principle  acknowledged  by  all  the 

*  St.  Justin,  Cohortat,  ad  Graec.  cap.  14. — St.  Clement,  Alex. 
Stromat.  lib.  1  and  5. — Eusebius,  Praeparat.  Evang.  lib.  15. — Origen, 
contra  Cels.  lib.  4. — Theoderet,  lib.  1. 

t  Under  king  Ozias,  A.M.  32S5,  according  to  the  Hebrew. 

}  It  is  apparently  demonstrated  that,  before  the  Christian  era,  the 
Jews  were  established  in  China  and  India.  See  Annales  de  la  Philo- 
tophie  chretienne,  vol.  4.  p.  120. 

§  Esther,  viii.  17.— Act.  ii.  11. 


IS  GOD  PARTIAL  OR  CRUEL  ?         175 

Fathers  and  theologians,  and  even  avowed  by  the  Jews,  that 
the  Mosaic  law  was  not  binding  upon  other  nations,  and  the 
examples  of  Melchisedec,  of  Job,  and  of  the  centurion  Cornelius, 
prove  sufficiently  that  God  numbered  his  elect  from  the  heart 
of  the  gentile  nation,  and  even  in  the  camp  of  the  Romans. 

It  is  evident  that  the  election  of  the  Jews  was  a  benefit 
common  to  all  nations.  Preserving  the  records  of  the  human 
race,  this  peculiar  people  was  only  what  it  still  is,  the 
guardian  of  the  word  which  was  to  save  the  world.* 

As  to  the  Christian  religion,  carried  by  the  Apostles  and 
their  first  disciples  to  the  extremities  of  the  globe,  it  has 
raised  everywhere  against  its  followers  tempests  enough  to 
excite  human  curiosity  and  to  leave  lasting  memorials  even 
in  the  regions  from  which  it  has  been  driven.  What  nations 
were  more  unkown  to  the  ancient  world  than  those  of  Ame- 
rica before  its  discovery  ?  and  yet  a  hundred  years  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  Christianity  had  been  preached  in 
Mexico.f 

If,  as  we  affirm,  there  are  still  to  be  found  distant  nations 
who  are  invincibly  ignorant  of  the  name  of  Christ,  religion 
tells  us  that  they  will  only  be 'accountable  before  God  for  the 
light  which  they  have  received.^  If  infidels  recognize  that 
Supreme  Being  whose  existence  the  spectacle  of  nature 
reveals  to  the  grossest  minds,  and  the  idea  of  whom  is  pre- 
served amidst  the  thick  darkness  of  idolatry ;  §  if  they  con- 
form their  conduct  to  the  first  principles  of  morality  engraved 
on  all  hearts  and  promulgated  by  the  universal  conscience ; 

*  Quid  ergo  amplius  Juda?o  est?  .  .  credita  sunt  illis  eloquia  Dei. 
(Rom.  iii.  1,  2.) 

t  See  Annales  de  la  Philosophic  chretienne,  vol.  14,  p.  82. 

t  Rom.  ii. 

§  This  is  a  fact  proved  by  the  practice  and  confession  of  idolaters  of 
every  age.  See  Tertullian,  lib.  of  Testimonio  e.nim,  &c.  Lactance, 
Divin.  Instit.  lib.  ii.  cap.  1.  Minut  Felix,  in  Bctavio.  St.  Cyprian. 
De  Idohmm  vanitate,  &c. 


176  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

God  according  to  the  common  opinion  of  theologians,  will 
not  leave  them  in  ignorance  of  the  truths  of  salvation,  even 
if  he  must  send  them  one  of  those  celestial  intelligences, 
whose  employment  it  is  to  increase  the  number  of  the  heirs 
of  heaven;*  and  this  would  not  be  without  example  in  the 
annals  of  Christianity.f  But  if  this  absolutely  gratuitous 
favor  were  refused  to  them,  these  infidels  would  not  be  in  a 
worse  condition  than  children  who  have  died  without  baptism.  J 

If  on  the  contrary,  being  guilty  in  matters  of  religion,  of 
imprudence  which  he  would  avoid  in  the  most  trifling  affairs 
of  life,  the  infidel  worships  Gods  whom  his  reason  repudiates, 
if  he  does  the  wrong  which  his  conscience  disapproves  he 
carries  in  himself  his  own  condemnation. 

But  enough.  Instead  of  occupying  ourselves  with  the  fate 
of  infidels,  let  us  rather  contemplate  the  terrible  account  which 
we  are  soon  to  carry  to  the  tribunal  of  God,  we  to  whom  his 
Providence  has  given  life  in  the  midst  of  light.  At  that  fear- 
ful moment,  how  many  Christians  who  have  been  faithless  to 
their  belief  will  envy  the  fate  of  pagans  who  are  more  ignorant 
than  guilty  !§ 


CHAPTER    LV. 

CAN    CHRISTIANITY    BE    ACCUSED    OF    FANATICISM    AND 
INTOLERANCE  ? 

NOTHING  is  more  unjust  than  the  accusation  of  fanaticism 
and  intolerance,  directed  against  a  religion  which  commands 
us  to  love  all  men  as  ourselves,  and  which  permits  us  to  re- 

*  Administrator!!  spiritus,  in  ministerimn  miss!  proptcr  eos,  qui 
haereditatem  capient  salutis.  (Heb.  i.  14.) 

f  Acts  x.  3.     {  See  as  above,  ch.  22.     §  St.  Matth.  xi.  22,  24. 


FANATICISM    AND    INTOLERANCE.  177 

venge  ourselves  upon  our  most  cruel  enemies  only  by  benedic- 
tions, prayers  and  acts  of  kindness.* 

The  same  gospel  which  shows  us  in  the  infidel  and  sinner 
the  slaves  of  the  devil,  also  teaches  us  that  God  loved  them 
so  much  as  to  purchase  their  redemption  by  the  blood  of  his 
only  Son,-}-  and  that  in  one  instant  they  may  become  the  elect. 
It  then  commands  us  to  bear  with  them  in  patience  and  kind- 
ness, after  the  example  of  our  heavenly  Father  wJio  maketh  his 
sun  to  rise  upon  the  good  and  bad,  and  raineth  upon  the  just 
and  unjust.^.  There  is  not  a  word  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
Christ,  not  a  circumstance  of  his  life  which  authorises  the  spirit 
of  fanaticism  and  persecution.  The  gentleness  of  the  lamb, 
the  simplicity  of  the  dove  and  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent, 
are  the  only  arms  He  gives  to  his  disciples  for  the  conquest 
of  the  world.  §  Let  us  review  the  lives  of  the  heroes  of 
Christianity  ;  if  we  find  blood  flowing  there,  it  is  always  their 
own.  Where  is  blind  fanaticism  found  ?  in  the  martyr  dying 
nobly  for  the  defence  of  an  eminently  rational  and  beneficent 
religion,  or  in  the  persecutor  murdering  men  who  could  be 
reproached  only  with  their  contempt  of  an  absurd  and  im- 
moral worship  ?  Among  the  vast,  innumerable  records  of 
councils  and  pontifical  decrees,  to  whatever  age  they  belong, 
not  one  can  be  found  which  sanctions  the  employment  of 
force  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel :  many,  on  the  other 
hand,  might  be  cited,  which  remind  princes  too  blindly  zeal- 
ous, of  the  principles  of  Christian  gentleness. 

If  in  the  middle  age,  certain  Popes,  making  use  of  that  tem- 
poral sovereignty,  with  which  universal  opinion  had  invested 
them,  induced  Christian  princes  to  take  up  arms  against  tur- 
bulent sectarians,  who  were  enemies  of  the  state  as  well  as 
the  church,  and  who,  by  the  terrible  corruption  of  their  doc- 
trines and  habits,  were  effacing  even  the  last  vestiges  of  chris- 

*  Matth.  v.  44. — xxii.  39.  t  John  iii.  17. 

}  Matth.  v.  45.  §  Matth.  v.  45. 


178  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

tian  civilization,  this  is  rather  a  subject  for  praise,  and  we 
have  seen  recently  Protestant  pens  avenging  the  memory  of 
these  great  men,  and  showing  us  in  them  the  saviors  of 
Europe.* 

I  shall  not  speak  of  the  twelve  millions  of  Americans  sac- 
rificed by  religion,  nor  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
directed  by  priests ;  those  infamous  calumnies,  fabricated  by 
the  philosophical  fanaticism  of  the  last  century,  and  contra- 
dicted by  the  evidence  of  facts,  and  which  are  only  repeated 
by  stupid  ignorance.  If  religion  took  part  in  the  massacre 
of  the  Indians  of  the  New  World,  it  was  to  throw  itself  be- 
tween the  executioners  and  the  victims,  as  the  Presbyterian 
Robertson  avers.  As  to  St.  Bartholomew,  it  is  well  authen- 
ticated, that  this  horrible  butchery  was  the  act  of  a  cruel 
policy,  to  which  religion  only  served  as  a  pretext 

To  close  the  eye  upon  the  vast  benefit  of  Christianity, 
upon  the  numberless  misfortunes  which  it  has  consoled  and 
alleviated,  upon  the  millions  of  lives  it  has  saved  and  still 
saves  every  day  by  its  heroic  institutions,  and  to  disinter 
from  history  some  obscene  crimes,  in  connection  with  which 
we  find  the  name  of  a  monk  or  a  priest,  this  was  the  mania 
of  the  writers  of  the  school  of  Ferney,  a  species  of  vultures 
•who  passed  in  swift  flight  over  fields  covered  with  delicious 
fruits  to  seize  on  carrion. 

Does  it  belong,  then,  to  an  incredulous  philosophy  to  re- 
proach us  with  fanaticism  and  intolerance,  when  she  exhibited 
to  us  not  long  ago,  in  a  most  humane  nation,  scenes  of  bar- 
barity unknown  to  cannibals,  and  whose  reign  of  eight  years 
•was  a  perpetual  St.  Batholomew !  She  would  in  vain  disclaim 
the  responsibility  of  it.  The  correspondence  of  Voltaire  and 
his  followers,  a  monument  of  unprecedent  fanaticism,  proves 
that  if  they  saw  not  all  they  did,  they  did  all  that  we  .vazr.f 

*  See,  among  others  La  Vie  (flnnocent  III.  by  Hurter. 
f  Words  of  Condorcet,  in  La  Vie  de.  Voltaire. 


DOES    CHRISTIANITY    FAVOR   DESPOTISM  ?       179 

CHAPTER    LVI. 

DOES   CHRISTIANITY    FAVOR    DESPOTISM  ? 

THAT  Christianity  promotes  despotism,  is  a  false  reproach, 
cast  upon  the  history  of  Christian  ages  ! 

Who  then  has  revealed  to  the  world  and  promulgated  that 
truth,  the  source  of  public  and  private  liberty,  that  men  in 
whatever  rank  of  the  social  scale  they  are  placed,  are  all  equal 
before  God,  their  only  true  Father  and  Master,  all  equally 
dear  to  his  heart  and  all  destined  to  reign  with  him  in  the 
splendor  of  his  glory  !  * 

Who  has  covered  with  eternal  ridicule  the  mad  desire  com- 
mon to  infidel  princes,  of  taking  their  place  among  the  Gods  ? 
who  has  imposed  silence  on  the  sophistical  rhetoricians  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  always  ready  to  banish  Jupiter  from  his 
temples  in  order  to  instal  in  them  indifferently  either  a  Nero 
or  a  Titus  ?  Who  has  forced  the  Caesars  to  recognise  under 
the  tatters  of  the  lowest  of  slaves,  their  brother  and  even  their 
protector  near  him  who  crushes  as  glass  empires  and  empe- 
rors. 

Let  us  consider  the  ancient  world,  and  modern  nations  not 
yet  Christianized.  Pride  has  every  where  destroyed  the  unity 
of  the  human  family,  and  raised  an  impassable  barrier  between 
prince  and  subject,  high  and  low,  man  and  woman ;  religion 
every  where  consecrates  the  distinction  of  castes,  and  sets  its 
seal  on  the  chains  of  slaves ;  philosophy  every  where  pre- 
serves a  profound  silence  concerning  these  cruel  aberrations, 
or  only  opens  her  mouth  to  justify  them,  f 

*  Matth.  xxiii.  9,  10. — Sap.  xn.  13. 

t  The  most  humane  and  profound  of  ancient  philosophers,  Aristotle, 
endeavors  to  prove  that  nature  condemns  most  men  to  servitude,  and 
while  refuting  the  philosophers  of  his  age  who  denied  to  slaves  the 


180  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

But  Christianity  does  not  confine  herself  to  establishing  the 
principle  of  equality  in  the  human  mind :  she  has  carried  it 
into  the  life ;  she  has  realised  it  in  the  institutions,  which 
would  have  overwhelmed  the  ancient  sages  with  astonishment, 
but  which  we  hardly  notice. 

She  has  ordained  that  princes  and  nobles  should  meekly  pros- 
trate themselves  with  the  people  at  the  feet  of  Supreme  Ma- 
jesty and  recognize  that  God  alone  is  great.  She  has  ordained 
that  in  our  Heavenly  Father's  mansions,  indiscriminately 
opened  to  beggars  and  kings,  a  man  taken  like  David  from 
the  midst  of  his  flocks,*  should  often  summon  sovereigns  be- 
fore the  Christian  tribunal  to  be  judged  by  the  King  of  kings, 
to  teach  them  that  their  authority  is  only  a  stream  which  flows 
from  the  celestial  paternity,  a  divinely  delegated  power  to  pro- 
cure the  welfare  of  their  subjects,  and  that,  if  God  has  distin- 
guished them  from  the  rest  of  men,  it  is  only  by  the  extent 
of  duties  he  imposes  upon  them,  and  by  the  terrible  account 
that  he  will  soon  demand  of  them  for  its  performance,  f  She 
has  ordained  under  pain  of  anathema,  that  sovereign  and 
subjects  should  seat  themselves  at  least  once  a  year,  at  the 
same  table  and  eat  the  same  bread. 

Finally,  by  her  divinely  philanthropic  doctrines,  she  has  so 
ennobled  the  lowest  in  society,  that  we  see  every  year  great 

title  of  reasonable  beings,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  are 
like  the  brute,  excluded  from  happiness.  (Politic,  lib.  i.  cap.  iii ;  lib.  iii. 
cap.  vi.)  Cato,  the  most  just,  the  most  virtuous,  the  most  holy  teacher 
that  the  Divinity  had  given  to  men,  according  to  Seneca  the  rhetorician, 
(Controv.  lib.  i.  proaem.)  offered  his  old  and  infirm  slaves  for  sale,  and 
advised  all  masters  to  do  the  same,  in  order,  as  he  said,  not  to  support 
useless  beings.  See  his  life  by  Plutarch,  and  his  Treatise  de  Re  rustica. 

*  De  post  fcetantes  accepit  eum.  (Ps.  Ixxxvii.  70.) 
.    t  The  judgment  to  which  the  Egyptians  subjected  their  kings  who 
had  been  dethroned  by  death,  has  been  much  celebrated ;  and  yet  no 
one  commends  the  public  judgment  and  perpetual  control  to  which 
Christianity  subjects  her  reigning  sovereigns  ! 


DOES    CHRISTIANITY    FAVOR   DESPOTISM  ?        181 

I'; incus  stooping  even  to  wash  the  feet  of  the  indigent,  and 
lionoiing  in  the  lowest  of  their  subjects,  the  representative 
of  God  made  poor  for  the  love  of  us.  And  is  the  religion, 
which  works  such  miracles,  accused  of  favoring  despotism ! 
what  short  sightedncss,  great  God  !  or  rather  what  blindness  ! 

Is  it  said,  that  if  Christianity  forbids  insurrections  from 
any  cause,  one  monster  would  suffice  to  chain  and  slay  twenty 
millions  of  men  :  an  absurd  supposition,  which  could  only  oc- 
cur to  the  mind  of  the  author  of  the  Social  Contract  !*  Among 
nations  who  have  been  constantly  faithful  to  Christianity  there 
cannot  be  found  one  of  those  crowned  ogres,  so  common 
among  infidel  nations. 

Place  a  Nero  over  a  firmly  Christian  people;  public  opinion, 
thai  great  mistress  of  affairs,  would  forbid  him  even  the 
thought  of  evil.  Would  he  order  crimes,  if  he  were  certain 
that  he  should  be  disobeyed !  when  all,  men,  women,  youths 
and  children  would  say  to  him :  "  God  forbids  you  to  require 
that  and  us  to  permit  it  to  you."  Witness  those  thousands  of 
young  virgins  and  Christian  children  whom  history  shows  us, 
reproving  emperors  and  their  ministers,  before  the  funeral 
pile ! — Will  the  tyrant  slay,  when  the  soldiers  answer  him, 
with  one  voice  as  the  heroes  of  the  Theban  legion !  "  Sire,  we 
have  taken  up  arms  against  your  enemies  and  those  of  the 
empire,  not  against  your  faithful  subjects  and  our  brothers." 

Will  the  prince  become  the  executioner  and  after  the 
example  of  Cornmodus,  arm  himself  with  club  or  steel  to  kill 
or  mutilate  the  man  who  first  approaches  him  ?  The  day  that 
this  fancy  seized  him,  he  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  physi- 
cians ;  the  next  day  the  churches  would  re-echo  with  prayers 
for  the  recovery  of  his  Majesty,  and  if  it  was  too  long  delayed 
the  government  would  be  confided  to  a  regency. 

To  enthrone  the  bloodthirsty  over  a  nation,  Religion  must 
have  been  banished  from  it,  which  only  repeats : 
*  Livre  iv.  ch. 

VOL.  I.  10 


182  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

"  Je  crains  Dieu,  cher  Abner,  et  n'ai  pas  d'autre  crainle."* 

It  is  when  the  Christian  tribunal  is  silent,  that  the 
Robespierres  come  with  lists  of  proscription  and  armies  of 
executioners. 

In  this  case,  what  is  the  part  of  Christians?  If  they 
believe  themselves  strong  enough  to  overthrow  the  oppressors 
of  the  country  and  establish  a  government  in  harmony  with 
the  wishes  of  a  sound  majority,  Religion  permits  them  to 
arm  themselves,  and  she  will  make  them  heroes  by  the  senti- 
ments she  inspires.  We  should  then  see  as  in  1793,  bands 
of  peasants,  with  the  rosary  around  their  neck,  a  musket  or 
a  scythe  in  hand,  destroying  in  a  few  months  numerous  and 
warlike  armies,  and  driving  to  within  a  hair's  breadth  of  ruin 
a  power  which  made  Europe  tremble,  and  obtaining  from 
Napoleon  the  title  of  "  People  of  giants." 

If,  on  the  contrary,  the  Christians  are  too  feeble,  above  all, 
if  they  are  in  the  presence  of  an  established  authority,  recog- 
nized by  a  large  number,  and  whose  destruction  would  plunge 
the  state  in  anarchy,  what  should  be  done  ?  Religion,  coin- 
ciding with  good  sense,  answers  as  the  father  of  the  Horatii : 
"  Let  them  die !" — Let  them  die  rather  than  aggravate,  by  an 
inconsiderate  resistance,  the  fate  of  the  country,  in  giving  it 
a  hundred  tyrants  in  the  place  of  one.f  Let  them  die  rather 
than  perpetuate  tyranny  by  yielding  basely  to  its  demands. 
Their  death  will  be  of  more  advantage  to  liberty  than  that 
of  their  persecutors.  The  blood  of  martyrs  is  fatal  to  tyranny. 
The  first  Christians  reasoned  thus,  St.  Maurice  and  his  six 
thousand  heroes ;  thus  reason  still  the  Christians  of  Tonquin 
and  Cochin-China. 

You  who  would  prefer  that  they  should  act  the  Brutus,  cal- 
culate the  consequences.  Brutus,  when  he  shed  the  blood 

*  I  fear  God,  dear  Abner,  and  have  no  other  fear, 
t  Fremere  deinde  inultiplicatam  servitutem :  centum  pro  uno  dom- 
inos  factos.  (Tit.  Liv.  Decad.  1,  lib.  1,  cap.  xvii.) 


DOES  CHRISTIANITY  RENDER  MEN  IMBECILE?    183 

of  Caesar,  delivered  his  country  over  to  the  fury  of  the  Tri- 
umvirate, and  the  Triumvirate  commenced  the  most  protracted 
and  disgraceful  tyranny  which  has  ever  bowed  down  the 
human  head.  Christians,  on  the  contrary,  by  dying  nobly 
in  defence  of  liberty  of  conscience,  teach  their  fellow-citizens 
that  the  power  of  the  prince  has  other  limits  than  his  will ; 
and  thirty  years  had  scarcely  passed  after  the  massacre  of 
Agaune  (A.  D.  286)  than  the  Caesars  were  forced  to  acknow- 
ledge in  the  face  of  the  empire,  that  they  had  a  Master  and 
a  Judge  in  Heaven. 

Religion  is  certainly  far  from  favoring  despotism,  she  who 
first  teaches  sovereigns,  that  they  are  the  ministers  of  Divine 
benevolence,  and  that  they  must  reign  according  to  the  laws,* 
and  subjects  that  there  are  circumstances  in  which  they  must 
answer  "No"  even  till  death.f 


CHAPTER    LVII. 

DOES    CHRISTIANITY    RENDER    HEX    IMBECILE? IS    IT    THE 

ENEMY    OF    GREAT    ENTERPRISES? 

IT  shows  great  ignorance  of  Christianity  and  its  history  to 
charge  it  with  checking  social  progress,  being  opposed  to 
great  enterprises,  and  forming  lifeless,  indifferent  characters, 
strangers  to  the  interests  of  this  world. 

*  Dei  enim  minister  est  tibi  in  bonum.  (Rom.  xiii.  4.)  It  is  very 
remarkable  that  in  the  minds  of  the  most  enlightened  pagans,  legality 
and  monarchy  were  incompatible.  Quidain  (populi)  says  Tacitus, 
lie  gum  pertccsi  leges  maluerunt.  (Annal.  iii.  26.) 

t  The  extreme  severity  of  the  Eastern  nations  is  well  known.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  in  all  Asia  a  subject  courageous  enough  to  say 
no  to  his  sovereign.  But  among  the  Siamese  such  a  man  would  be  a 
true  prodigy.  Baptism  is  every  day  multiplying  these  prodigies.  "  Of 


184          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

The  true  Christian  is  in  fact  he  who  lives  the  most  in  the 
least  time.*  Subtract  from  a  year  the  idle  hours  of  which 
half  the  life  of  most  men  is  composed,  take  away  the  time 
given  to  pride,  vanity,  the  desire  to  please,  to  curiosity,  the 
trifling  of  love,  the  table  and  pastime ;  how  many  hours  are 
gained  in  a  day!  how  many  days  in  a  month  or  a  year! 

Would  the  miser  to  whom  Croesus  should  open  his  trea- 
sures and  say,  "  Come  and  take  what  pleases  you,  for  soon 
my  coffers  will  be  closed,"  find  that  he  had  time  to  lose  ? 
Such  is  the  Christian.  He  knows  that  the  fleeting  moments 
of  life  have  been  given  him  only  to  seize  the  treasures  of 
Divine  munificence.  |  He  knows  that  at  the  end  of  the  day 
the  Father  of  the  family,  will  come  with  that  justice  which 
does  not  pardon  even  an  idle  word,t  with  that  liberality  which 
does  not  leave  without  its  reAvard  even  a  glass  of  cold  water 
given  in  his  name.§  He  knows  that  true  piety  consists  not 
in  the  length  of  his  prayers,  but  in  a  constant  application  to 
the  duties  of  his  station,  and  that  the  prayers  which  ascend 
highest  towards  heaven  are  those  of  the  unhappy  whom  he 
has  consoled,  and  the  orphans  to  whom  he  has  been  a  father. 

Hence  his  continual  care  not  to  lose  a  moment ;  time  is 
worth  as  much  to  him  as  heaven,  which  is  its  recompense. 
Hence  the  attention  he  pays  to  every  act :  like  Apelles  and 
even  more  than  Apelles,  he  labors  for  eternity.  Hence  his 
passion  for  works  useful  to  his  neighbor :  he  knows  that  God 
receives  as  if  done  for  himself  what  we  do  for  our  brethren. j| 

Is  not  this  what  we  see  in  the  life  of  the  Christian  models ! 
What  days  are  theirs!  And  here  I  will  not  speak  of  the 

all  my  subjects,  said  recently  the  present  king  of  Siam,  the  Christians 
are  the  only  persons  who  know  how  to  say  JVb."  Annalcs  de  la  Propa- 
gation de  la  Foi,  1,  t.  v.  p.  131. 

*  Consummatus  in  brevi  explevit  tempora  multa.  (Sap.  iv.  13.) 
t  Ergo  dum  tempus  habemus,  operemur  bonum.  (Galat.  vi.  10  ) 
\  Matth.  xii.  36.  §  Matth.  x.  42.  ||  Matth.  xxv.  40. 


DOES  CHRISTIANITY  RENDER  MEN  IMBECILE?    18"> 

poor  priest  Vincent  de  Paul,  whose  works  of  public  utility 
surpass  all  that  human  philanthropy,  disposing  of  the  trea- 
sures of  kings,  could  ever  have  conceived;  but  I  will  say: 
"  See  these  hosts  of  girls  whom  his  charity  has  given  for 
mothers  and  servants  to  those  who  have  none.  See  that 
throng  of  fathers  of  families,  ladies  and  young  persons  whom 
their  energy  unites  every  week  in  committees  to  go  forth  from 
them  into  the  abodes  of  indigence,  to  be  certain  that  no 
unfortunate  person  escapes  their  beneficence.  Is  it  these 
who  are  reproached  with  apathy  and  indifference ! 

I  will  not  speak  of  a  Francis  Xavier,  the  Christian  Alex- 
ander, who  in  ten  years,  conquered  fifty-two  kingdoms, 
planted  the  standard  of  faith  over  an  extent  of  three  thousand 
leagues,  and  proved  that  charily  goes  farther  than  pride.* 

But  see  those  priests  with  heroic  hearts  who  tear  themselves 
away  from  the  charms  of  country  to  carry  to  nations  who  have 
scarcely  the  semblance  of  man,  the  knowledge  which  guides 
to  heaven  and  the  arts  which  soften  the  rigor  of  the  terrestrial 
journey.  Is  it  they  who  are  reproached  with  saintly  idleness, 
and  repugnance  to  great  enterprises  ?  Are  they  wanting  in 
patriotism?  Ask  our  navigators,  ask  the  neophytes  of  the 
South  Seas,  and  you  will  find  that  next  to  the  name  of  God, 
the  French  name  is  the  first  which  their  mouth  blesses. 

I  will  not  speak  of  Charlemagne,  Alfred  the  Great  and 
Louis  the  Ninth,  whom  the  gratitude  and  admiration  of  the 
nations,  as  well  as  their  virtues  have  transferred  from  the 
throne  to  the  altar.  But  read  the  Life  of  Stanislas  the  Bene- 
ficent, or  rather  traverse  Lorraine  and  you  will  see  the  great 
and  marvellous  things  that  a  truly  Christian  prince  can 
accomplish  with  a  very  small  revenue. 

If  from  individuals  we  pass  to  nations,  we  shall  find  that 
they  have  never  developed  so  great  a  power  of  action  as 

*  Pension,  Sermon  pour  I'Epiphanie,  (Euv.  t.  xvii.  p.  152. 
16* 


186  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

when  they  have  been  guided  by  Christian  inspiration.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  not  the  age  of  the  crusades  which  has  failed  in 
enthusiasm  for  great  deeds.  We  cannot  reproach  the  twelfth, 
thirteenth  or  fourteenth  centuries  with  imbecility,  Cyclopean 
ages  which  have  covered  the  soil  of  Europe  with  innumera- 
ble monuments  whose  beauty,  solidity  and  grandeur  astonish 
and  confound  our  weakness.*  It  was  the  same  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  which  was  "  that  of  the  greatest  external  activity 
of  men,  an  age  of  voyages,  enterprises,  discoveries  and 
inventions  of  all  sorts."f 

"  Will  our  age  leave  as  many  memorials  of  its  course,  as 
the  time  of  our  fathers?  ....  The  exercise  of  reason  and 
of  industry  can  do  nothing  but  build  exchanges,  warehouses, 
manufactures,  bazaars,  cafes  and  pleasure-houses ;  in  the 
cities  economical  establishments ;  in  the  country,  cottages, 
and  in  every  direction  small  tombs.  In  five  or  six  centuries, 
when  Religion  and  philosophy  discharge  their  accounts, 
when  they  reckon  the  days  which  were  theirs,  and  each 
makes  out  the  register  of  their  ruins,  on  which  side  will  the 
largest  portion  of  life  have  passed  away,  on  which  side  will 
be  the  largest  sum  of  recollections  ?  J 

*  If  we  wish  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  France  has  been  covered 
with  these  monuments,  Jacques  Coeur  has  counted  seventeen  hundred 
thousand  steeples  .  .  .  sum  total  of  monuments  (churches,  chapels, 
villas,  chateauxs,  &c.,)  one  million  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two 
thousand,  nine  nundred  and  twenty-six.  Chateaubriand,  Etudes  His- 
toriques,  torn.  iii. 

t  Guizot,  Cours  d'Histoire  Moderne,  xi.  lecon. 

f  Chateaubriand,  Etudes  Historiques,  torn.  iii. 


CONCLUSION.  187 


CHAPTER    LVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

I  WOULD  ask  of  all  those  for  whom  this  book  is  intended, 
readers  wavering  in  faith  or  borne  far  away  on  the  waves  of 
doubt  or  the  currents  of  opinion,  but  whose  heart  has  not  yet 
made  an  indissoluble  compact  with  incredulity,  how  does  it 
seem  to  you  that  I  have  fulfilled  my  task  ?  Can  man  be  a 
man  without  being  a  Christian  1 

I  have  brought  before  your  eyes  a  feeble  portion  of  the 
rays  of  the  sun  of  truth,  at  a  distance  from  which  there  is 
thick  darkness  in  the  intellect,  and  an  icy  chill  in  the  heart. 
Will  not  those  among  you  who  do  not  yet  feel  the  need  of 
believing,  at  least  feel  the  obligation  to  examine.  Indeed  it 
is  worth  the  trouble. 

Would  you  remain  idle  if,  in  order  to  take  rank  among  the 
princes  of  this  world,  you  had  in  your  portfolio  one  only  of 
the  numerous  titles  which  establish  the  claims  of  Christianity 
to  your  faith  ?  Would  you  say,  "  Of  what  importance  is  it 
to  me  ?"  But  could  the  eternal  crown  which  Religion  offers 
you  be  less  in  your  eyes  than  one  of  those  terrestrial  crowns 
which  death  dashes  in  pieces  against  our  grave  stone,  when 
revolutions  do  not  cast  them  into  the  mire !  What  is  de- 
manded of  you  by  him  who  exhorts  you  to  study  Religion  ? 
He  wishes  you  to  examine  if  it  is  true  that  the  day  when 
Christianity  impressed  its  seal  upon  your  brow,  at  the  entrance 
of  our  temples,  you  became  the  adopted  son  of  the  great 
sovereign  of  time  and  eternity ;  if  it  is  true  that  in  the  abode 
of  glory,  near  the  throne  surrounded  by  hosts  of  celestial  in- 
telligences, there  is  a  seat  destined  for  you,  which  you  cannot 
renounce  without  falling  into  a  fathomless  abyss  of  abjectness 


188  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

and  misery ;  if  it  is  true  thaf  the  fleeting  moments  of  life  are 
granted  you  only  to  prepare  for  this  sublime  destiny. 

At  least  acknowledge  that  Christianity  wonderfully  en- 
nobles man,  and  if  it  is  a  very  dull  intellect  which  resists  the 
evidence  of  its  proofs,  it  must  be  a  very  base  heart  which  is 
insensible  to  the  grandeur  of  its  promises. 

Abandon  its  doctrines,  what  have  you  left  ? 

What  is  man  ?  a  mere  digestive  tube. 

What  distinguishes  him  from  his  dog  ?  He  has  speech,  but 
two  feet  less. 

What  does  he  do  upon  the  earth  ? —  .  .      He  digests. 


KM>    OF   VCl. 


CONTENTS    OF  VOLUME    I. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE, 

INTRODUCTION  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Hughes  * 

I. — What  it  is  to  be  a  man             -               -               •  9 

II. — In  what  consists  the  use  of  the  intellect  ?          -  10 

III. — Various  solutions          -                              -  12 

IV  — Solution  of  the  indifferent             ...  12 

V. — Solution  of  the  Pantheist. — What  is  Pantheism  ?  15 

VI. — The  same  subject  continued           -              -  17 

VII. — Moral  side  of  Pantheism          -  20 

VIII.— Solution  of  Atheism                      -                          -  24 

IX. — One  proof  among  a  thousand,  that  the  Atheist  is  the 

most  impudent  of  liars    -                    -  27 

X. — The  same  subject  continued  31 

XL— Christian  Solution              -            -              -  33 
XII. — Continuation. — Metaphysical   proofs. — Proofs  from 

feeling            ...             -            -  37 
XIII. — Various  solutions  of  the  two  questions :  What  am  I  ? 

Where  am  I  going  ?          ...  41 
XIV. — The  solution  of  the  Materialist. — Is  man  wholly 

material  ?        -            -            -             -            -  43 
XV. — Solution  of  the  Materialist  and  Pantheist. — Is  the 
destiny  of  man  limited  to  the  present  life  ? — 
Idea  of  true  happiness.          -             -  43 
XVI. — Is  true  happiness  compatible  with  our  actual  ex- 
istence ?      -                      -             -            -  51 
XVII. — Why  can  we  not  be  happy  in  this  world  ?  -  55 
XVIII. — In  one  way  or  another,  there  must  be  a  life  to  come.  53 
XIX. — The  future  state  of  man  according  to  Christianity.  60 
XX. — Parallel  of  Christian  progress  with  philosophic  pro- 
gress        ...  64 


190  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE. 

XXI. — Harmony  of  evangelical  morality  with  man's  actual 

condition         -  -  -  -  66 

XXII. — Doctrine  of  Christianity,  concerning  the  original 

corruption  of  man,  easily  justified  69 

XXIII. — Nature  of  the  sin  of  the  first  man. — Its  permanent 
influence  on  the  life,  both  of  nations  and  in- 
dividuals       ...  74 
XXIV. — Doctrine  of  Christianity  concerning  Hell,  eminently 

rational. — Is  God  the  creator  of  Hell?       -  78 

XXV. — Hell,  as  well  as  heaven,  is  the  daily  creation  of  man 

in  this  life      -  -      83 

XXVI. — Pain  of  loss  of  the  reprobate. — Conjecture  concern- 
ing the  pain  of  fire.         -  S7 
XXVII. — Necessity  of  the  incarnation. — Preparation  of  the 

human  race  for  this  event. — Its  realisation.     -       93 

XXVIII.— Office  of  the  God-Man  96 

XXIX.— Birth  of  the  God-Man.— His  private  and  public  life.     93 

XXX. — Necessity  for  the  sufferings  of  the  God-Man  -     100 

XXXI. — Death  of  the  God-Man.— Moral  effect  of  this  event.— 

Is  Christianity  the  work  of  Man  or  of  God  ?         104 
XXXII. — Uniform  character  of  the  works  of  man  -  106 

XXXIII. — Summary  proof  of  the  truth  and  divinity  of  Chris- 
tianity -  -     108 
XXXIV.— Character  of  truth       -  111 
XXXV.— Divinity  of  the  bible,  proved  by  its  unity  -            -     112 
XXXVI. — Divine  harmony  of  the  Christian  system  considered 

in  itself    -  -  116 

XXXVII. — Continuation. — Other  internal  proofs  of  the  divine 

origin  of  the  Christian  system  -  -     119 

XXXVIII. — Profound  harmony  of  Christianity  with  man. — The 

only  source  of  incredulity  -  -  121 

XXXIX. — Historical  reality  of  Christianity. — German  Commen- 
tators.— Naturalists. — Mythologues. — Strauss.      123 
XL. — A  word  concerning  the  authenticity  and  veracity  of 

the  Mosaic  Books       -  -    128 

XLI. — Prophetic  books. — Their  authenticity. — Answer  to 

an  objection         -  -  131 

XLII. — Reality  of  evangelical  facts. — Character  and  number 

of  witnesses      -  -  -  -     134 


CONTENTS.  191 


CHAPTER.  ,  PAGE 

XLIII. — Conversion  of  the  world,  manifest  proof  of  the  divine 
interposition. — Absurdity  of  natural  reasons 
which  are  given  for  this  event  -  -  138 

XLIV. — Distinguishing  miracle  of  Christianity. — Number  of 
witnesses  of  the  divinity  of  religion. — Extrava- 
gance of  the  unbeliever.         ...     141 
XLV. — Harmony  of  Christianity  with  the  general  history  of 

the  world,  with  nature  and  with  all  the  sciences  144 
XLVI. — Continuation. — Work   of  six  days. — Unity   of  the 

human  race. — Universal  traditions  -  147 

XLVII. — Excellence  of  the  evangelical  morality. — Its  admir- 
able influence  on  society  and  the  individual         150 
XLVIII.— Beauty   of  Christianity.— Idea  of  the  beautiful. — 
Essential  difference  between  ancient  and  Chris- 
tian art. — Pagan  architecture  -  -     154 
XLTX, — Christian  architecture. — Its  character               -  157 
L. — Christian  music. — Liturgic  literature         -            -     161 
LI. — Recapitulation. — What  is  wanting  to  Christianity  in 

order  to  be  believed. — Objections  of  unbelievers  164 
LI  I. — Is  faith  in  mysteries  an  outrage  upon  reason  ?         -     166 
LIII. — Is  faith  an  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  knowledge  -     169 
LIV. — Is  the  God  of  Christians  a  partial  or  cruel  God       -     172 
LV. — Can  Christianity  be  accused  of  fanaticism  and  intol- 
erance ?  -  -  -  -  176 
LVI. — Does  Christianity  favor  despotism  »             •            .     179 
LVII. — Does  Christianity  render  men  imbecile  ? — Is  it  the 

enemy  of  great  enterprises  ?  -  -  183 

LVIII. — Conclusion.  -  -  -  -  -     ie/ 


RELIGION  IN  SOCIETY, 


OR  THE 


SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS, 

PLACED    WITHIN 

THE  REACH  OF  EVERY  MIND. 

TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  FRENCH  OF  THE  ABBE  MARTINET. 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 


MOST  REV.  JOHN  HUGHES,  D.D. 

ARCHBISHOP  OF  NEW  YORK. 
FOURTH   EDITION. 


VOL.    II. 


N  E  W-YORK : 

D.  &  J.  SADLIER,  &  CO.,  164  WILLIAM  STREET. 

BOSTON: — 128  FBDERAL-STREKT. 

MONTREAL,  C.  E: 
CORXER  OF  NOTRE-DAME  AND  ST.  FRANCIS  XAVIER  STREETS. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1850, 

By  D.   &  J.   SADLIER, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  th* 
Southern  District  of  New- York. 


VINOBNT  L.  DILL,  Stereotype*. 
128  Fulton-street,  F.  Y. 


THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    I 

WHAT    IT    IS    TO    UK    A    CHRISTIAN. 

To  admire  the  wonderful  poetry  of  Christian  worship,  to 
fall  into  ecstacies  before  the  architectural  enchantments  of  the 
middle  ages,  and  to  cast  the  reproach  of  ignorance  and  bar- 
barism upon  the  despisers  of  those  heroic  times,  is  not  to  be 
a  Christian ;  it  is  to  show  oneself  an  artist. 

To  ridicule  the  sarcasms  and  anti-biblical  reasonings  of 
Voltaire,  to  purify  the  pages  of  history  from  the  foul  stains 
with  which  this  impure  spirit  has  sullied  them,  and  to  recog- 
nize that  the  appearance  of  Christ  in  the  world  was  a  vast 
benefit,  is  not  to  be  a  Christian ;  it  is  to  prove  one's  know- 
ledge and  skill  in  criticism,  and  carry  candid  judgment  into 
history. 

To  extol  the  excellence  of  evangelical  morality,  and  show 
its  profound  harmony  with  the  deep  wants  of  man,  and  its 
happy  influence  over  the  individual,  the  family,  and  society ; 
to  celebrate  the  divine  character  of  Jesus,  and  show  that  he 
is  infinitely  superior  to  the  wise  men  of  the  earth,  whose  con- 
duct contradicts  their  words,  when  their  words  do  not  contra- 
dict the  truth,  is  not  being  a  Christian  ;  there  is  nothing  in  all 
this  which  the  most  violent  enemies  of  Christianity  do  not 


6  THE    SOLUTION   OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

avow  in  their  lucid  moments.  The  author  of  the  Koran  has 
recognized  the  organ  of  the  Divinity  in  the  son  of  Mary. 

What,  then,  is  the  characteristic  of  the  Christian  ?  It  is  to 
recognize  in  Christ  the  three  prerogatives  inherent  in  the  title 
of  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  which  he  assumes  when  he 
says  :  "  I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life.  No  man  com- 
eth  to  the  Father  but  through  me."* 

To  be  a  Christian  is  then,  in  the  first  place,  to  walk  in  the 
footsteps  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  reproduce  in  our  conduct  the 
image  of  this  perfect  model  of  the  children  of  God. 

To  be  a  Christian  is,  in  the  second  place,  to  conform  our 
thought  to  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  an  unwavering  faith  in  all 
his  teachings. 

To  be  a  Christian  is,  in  the  third  place,  to  incorporate  our- 
selves with  Jesus  Christ  and  maintain  ourselves  in  those  inti- 
mate relations  by  which  this  Divine  Head  of  the  elect  sends 
his  life  circulating  through  all  his  members. 

A  certain  knowledge  and  public  profession  of  the  doctrine 
of  Christ ;  the  use  of  the  means  established  by  him  to  heal 
the  infirmities  of  man  and  guide  him  towards  God;  a  life 
in  harmony  with  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  exam- 
ples of  the  Divine  Master,  such  are  the  three  conditions  the 
union  of  which  forms  the  true  Christian. 

The  religious  society  which  can  alone  realize  these  condi- 
tions in  all  its  members,  and  which  does  in  fact  realize  them 
in  a  great  number,  is  without  doubt,  the  only  true  society  of 
the  disciples  of  Christ. 

To  obtain  light  in  our  search  for  this  society,  let  us  com- 
mence by  forming  a  just  idea  of  faith,  that  first  foundation 
of  the  Christian  life. 

*  John  xiv.  6. 


IDEA    OF    FAITH. 


CHAPTER    II 

IDEA    OF    FAITH. ITS    NECESSITY. 

WHAT  is  this  Faith  which  is  placed  by  Christianity  at  the 
head  of  the  virtues,  and  without  which,  we  are  told,  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God. 

It  is  a  disposition  of  the  mind  and  heart  to  believe  God 
upon  his  word,  even  when  the  truths  which  he  is  pleased  to 
reveal  to  us  surpass  our  understanding. 

What  can  be  more  just  than  such  a  disposition  ?  Has  not 
God  a  right  to  the  honor  which  we  every  day  pay  our  fellow 
men,  when  we  admit  so  many  important  facts  on  their  testi- 
mony alone  ? 

Let  the  man  who  boasts  the  most  of  his  reason  cast  a 
glance  upon  the  treasure  of  his  knowledge,  let  him  separate 
that  which  he  owes  to  the  light  of  evidence,  to  the  labor  of 
reflection,  to  his  own  researches,  from  what  he  has  received 
on  the  authority  of  others,  and  he  will  agree,  with  Seneca, 
that  the  portion  obtained  by  faith  is  incontestably  the  richest.* 

It  is  faith,  that  is,  confidence  in  the  knowledge  and  probity 
of  men,  which  determines  us  in  the  more  important  affairs  of 
life,  most  of  which  besides  are  not  within  the  range  of  our 
investigations.  It  is  to  our  parents,  to  an  agent,  a  lawyer,  a 
financier,  a  merchant,  a  physician,  our  servants,  that  we  refer 
what  belongs  to  our  civil  condition,  our  alliances,  our  fortune, 
our  health,  our  life. 

Now,  could  we  refuse  this  credit  which  we  give  so  freely 
to  mistaken  and  often  deceitful  men,  to  the  divine  testimony, 
which  is  essentially  pure  from  error  and  deceit  ?f  The 
skeptic,  however,  does  this. 

"  I  have  my  reason,"  says  he ;  "  to  judge  it  incompetent  to 
*  Ep.  xciv.  t  John  i.  Ep.  v.  9. 


8  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

guide  me,  would  be  an  outrage  against  God  from  whom  I 
have  received  it." 

You  have  your  reason,  but  God  also  has  his,  richer  no 
doubt  in  knowledge  than  yours;  for  he  is  the  eldest  and 
the  first  of  thinkers.  If  then  it  pleases  him  to  make  known 
to  you  some  of  the  truths  which  escape  your  very  short- 
sighted and  uncertain  reason,  is  it  not  right  that  you  should 
accept  this  communication  with  submission  and  gratitude  ? 
Would  not  the  refusal  of  it  be  an  outrage  upon  your  reason 
and  upon  him  who  has  bestowed  it  on  you  ? 

You  have  your  reason,  but  it  is  precisely  because  he  has 
imparted  to  you  this  ray  of  his  intelligence  that  God  speaks 
to  you.  He  does  not  speak  to  the  brute.  "It  is  by  the 
sublime  gift  of  reason,"  said  a  pagan  sage,  "  that  man  is 
distinguished  from  the  animals,  and  is  united  to  God."* 

What  is  reason,  then,  when  we  look  at  it  more  closely  ? 
The  faculty  of  knowing  and  learning ;  a  faculty  which  is 
only  developed  by  external  teaching.  If  God  takes  upon 
himself  this  instruction,  if  he  assumes  the  title  of  teacJier  of 
man,\  does  it  become  man  to  be  displeased  at  it!  Twith  is 
to  reason  what  light  is  to  the  eye :  to  say :  We  have  reason, 
what  need  of  revelation  ?  is  to  say  in  the  darkness  of  mid- 
night :  we  have  eyes,  what  need  of  light  ? 

Let  us  admit  that  reason  can  guide  us  to  the  knowledge 
of  all  necessary  truth,  it  certainly  would  be  by  long  and 
laborious  researches  which  surpass  the  power  of  the  gene- 
rality of  men.  It  is  indeed  then  worthy  of  the  benevolence 
of  Our  Heavenly  Father  to  furnish  all  his  children,  by  exter- 
nal instruction,  with  a  prompt  and  sure  method  of  attaining 
truth  and  virtue,  without  exposing  them  to  grope  in  the  dim 
paths  of  ontology  and  psychology.  According  to  this  hypo- 
thesis, which  all  rational  and  historical  facts  render  very 

*  Cicero,  DC  Legibus,  lib.  i. 

t  Qui  docet  hominem  scientiam.  (Ps  xciii.  10.) 


POWERLESSNESS    OF    REASON. 


plausible,  to  prefer  the  tedious  and  fruitless  labors  of  human 
thought  to  divine  teaching,  would  be  a  manifest  abuse  of 
reason  and  an  affected  contempt  of  God. 

But  is  it  true  that  reason  alone  can  teach  man  so  much  as 
to  render  the  Divine  Word  superfluous  ? 


CHAPTER    III. 

POWERLESSNESS    OP   REASON. — PRETENSIONS    OP   THE    PHIL- 
OSOPHY   OF   THE    PRESENT    DAY. NECESSITY    OF 

REVELATION. 

As  I  have  before  said,  man  remains  necessarily  beneath 
himself,  and  cannot  come  out  of  the  animal  sphere  of  brutal- 
ity, until  he  has  penetrated  the  mystery  of  his  existence, 
knows,  beyond  a  doubt,  what  he  is,  whence  he  comes,  whither 
he  is  going,  what  he  must  do  and  avoid  here  below,  and 
what  he  may  hope  and  fear  at  the  end  of  his  course.* 

Now,  upon  these  capital  questions,  what  are,  what  can  be 
the  instructions  of  reason  ?  What  hand  can  raise  the  thick 
veil  of  generation  and  show  us  the  starting  point  of  man, 
at  his  stolen  entrance  into  life.  What  eye  can  follow  him 
beyond  the  tomb  ?  The  witnesses  of  his  sorrows  and  his 
misery  during  his  short  passage  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave, 
we  are  equally  ignorant  of  their  origin  and  remedy. 

For  three  thousand  years  during  which  the  most  powerful 
minds  have  been  exercising  themselves  on  these  problems, 
many  solutions  have  been  given.  Most  of  them  have  only 
increased  the  sum  of  human  extravagance.  Those  which 
good  sense  can  accept  without  blushing,  do  not  go  beyond 
the  limits  of  conjecture  and  it  is  not  with  conjectures  that 
*  First  Problem,  ch.  ii. 


10  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

man  can  be  reformed.  Would  his  passions,  which  too  often 
brave  the  strongest  convictions,  willingly  yield  to  a  timid 
perhaps ? 

Is  the  philosophy  of  the  nineteenth  century  more  success- 
ful ?  Its  disciples  do  not  doubt  it.  "  Philosophy  is  always 
for  them  the  light  of  lights,  the  authority  of  authorities,  the 
only  authority."*  They  refer  philosophically  in  all  things 
to  the  auJJiority  of  the  human  mind.^ 

"  Struck  with  the  imperfections  of  a  solution,  which  has 
governed  the  world  for  eighteen  hundred  years,  and  convinced 
that  at  the  present  day  none  can  be  proposed  for  the  accept- 
ance of  the  masses,  on  the  claim  that  it  has  been  revealed, 
.  .  .  there  remains  but  one  way,  one  means  according  to 
them,  to  come  to  the  assistance  of  society  in  peril ;  that  is  to 
agitate  philosophically  those  formidable  problems,  for  which 
a  solution  is  absolutely  needed ;  it  is  to  seek  in  sincerity  by 
the  rigorous  processes  of  science  a  solution  as  rigorous,  which 
"can  endure  the  severe  examination  of  that  reason  into  whose 
hands  civilization  has  transferred  the  sceptre  of  authority."! 

But  while  it  pleases  these  gentlemen  to  open  the  eyes  of 
the  human  race  by  a  solution  every  way  indisputable,  death 
pursues  its  course.  Every  second,  one  man  dies;  every 
minute,  sixty ;  every  hour,  three  thousand  six  hundred ;  every 
day,  eighty-six  thousand,  four  hundred;  every  year,  thirty- 
one  million,  five  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand ;  and  every 
century,  about  three  thousand  millions. 

Where  are  these  poor  blind  men  going  ?  Where  have  these 
innumerable  generations  gone  who  have  preceded  us,  if 
hitherto  no  one  has  been  found  who  could  point  out  to  them 
the  path  of  truth  which  leads  to  life,  the  path  of  error  which 
leads  to  death  ?  An  idle  question,  it  is  true,  in  the  eyes  of  our 

*  M.  Cousin,  Cours  de  rHwtoire  de  la  Philo.tophie.  Introd. 
t  M.  Lerminier,  Revue  dcs  Deux  Mondes.  torn.  vii.  p.  733. 
J  M.  Jouffroy,  Du  Problems  de  la  Destinle  Humaine. 


POWLERLESSNESS    OF    REASCN.  11 

professors  of  philosophy.  Of  what  importance  is  the  salva- 
tion or  destruction  of  two  hundred  thousand  millions  of  men 
to  them,  provided  that  some  fine  morning  they  can  have  the 
satisfaction  of  saying  to  their  followers:  "Rejoice,  my 
friends ;  of  all  the  great  days  of  humanity  this  day  is  the 
greatest,  for  it  opens  a  new  era,  the  era  of  eras,  the  era  of 
truth !  If  this  supreme  monarch  of  the  intellect  has  chosen 
me  for  her  first  organ,  she  destines  you  to  become  her  first 
apostles.  Give  me  your  attention  !  I  am  going  to  show  you 
at  the  very  centre  of  objective  evidence  the  three  terms  of 
universal  science.  God,  man  and  the  universe!" 

Yet,  if  in  order  to  obtain  for  themselves  the  sublime  office 
of  inventors  of  truth,  the  eaglets  of  our  universities,  dispose 
so  comfortably  of  three  hundred  generations  of  men  who 
have  had  the  misfortune  to  die  before  the  opening  of  our 
courses  of  transcendental  philosophy,  our  God  does  not  move 
so  rapidly.  He  tenderly  cherishes  our  souls,  he  who  has 
created  them  in  his  likeness  and  animated  them  with  the 
breath  of  his  love.*  He  who  will  have  all  men  to  be  saved 
by  leading  them  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truih,\  must  he  not 
show  them  the  way  from  the  beginning  ?  Witnesses  of  the 
great  liberality  with  which  he  provides  for  the  support  of  the 
body,  could  we  doubt  that  he  has  furnished  to  our  spirits 
their  celestial  food ! 

Who,  then,  but  the  Creator  can  tell  us  how,  and  why,  he 
has  called  the  universe  and  man  into  existence  ?  You  who, 
for  the  solution  of  these  problems  appeal  exclusively  to  the 
intellect  of  man,  if  pride  had  not  blinded  your  eyes  a  thou- 
sand fold  more  thickly  than  the  veil  of  faith,  you  would  with- 
out doubt  comprehend  that  your  pretension  is  absurd.  Can 
this  mind  of  man  which  scarcely  sees  the  depth  of  its 
own  thought,  read  the  thought  of  God  and  wrest  from  eternal 
wisdom  its  secrets? 

*  Sap.  xi.  ult.  f  I-  Tim.  ii.  4. 


12  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

He  must  be  very  blind  who  does  not  see  that  the  final 
cause  of  being,  lies  in  the  bosom  of  its  author.  No  human 
eye  can  reach  that ;  but  the  only-begotten  Son  who  is  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father  lialh  declared  to  us  himself  what  it 
imports  us  to  know.* 


CHAPTER    IV. 

EXISTENCE    OF   KEVELATION. EXTRAVAGANCE    OF 

RATIONALISM. 

GOD  has  spoken  to  men,  and  has  not  left  to  their  feeble 
reason  the  solution  of  the  obscure  enigma  of  their  destiny : 
such  has  always  been,  such  is  still  the  universal  belief. 
There  is  no  nation  without  religion,  no  religion  which  has 
not  been,  in  the  eyes  of  its  believers,  the  child  of  Heaven. 

Ancient  philosophy,  after  long  and  useless  efforts  to  raise 
the  thick  cloud  which  conceals  from  man  the  view  of  his 
past  and  his  future,  recognizes  its  powerlessness,  and  its  most 
illustrious  organs  have  avowed  "that  men  could  never  be 
reformed  in  their  life,  nor  instructed  in  their  true  duties 
towards  the  Divinity  and  their  fellow  men,  until  a  messenger 
from  Heaven  should  undertake  it"f 

God  spoke  to  the  human  race  in  its  head,  and  after  forty 
centuries  of  more  or  less  active  communication  with  the 
children  of  men,  he  vouchsafed  to  speak  to  us  by  his  Son 
who  descended  on  i\\e  earth  full  of  grace  and  lruih,\  such 
has  been  for  eighteen  hundred  years  the  unanimous  faith  of 
the  Christian  world. 

*  Deum  nemo  vidit  unquaro :  Unigenitus  Filius,  qui  est  in  sinu 
Patris,  ipse  enarravit.     (John  i.  IS.) 
f  Plato,  in  Aleib.  11.— Apol.  Socrat.  f  John  i.  14. 


EXISTENCE    OF    REVELATION.  13 

This  faith,  very  different  from  the  vain  opinions  which 
plant  themselves  so  easily  in  the  popular  mind,  because  they 
derange  nothing  there,  and  leave  to  man  independence  of 
thought  and  action,  has  transformed  everything,  absorbed 
everything,  impregnated  everything  with  her  spirit,  public  and 
private  life,  political  and  civil  institutions,  the  sciences,  fine 
arts,  &c.  Furiously  resisted  by  the  passions,  which  she  came 
to  dethrone,  she  has  obtained,  and  still  obtains  from  her  dis- 
ciples, what  never  has  been  granted  to  an  opinion,  the  volun- 
tary sacrifice  of  life.  Violently  assailed  by  the  false  philoso- 
phers whom  she  accuses  of  ignorance  and  folly,  she  must 
necessarily  make  good  her  position  in  the  sphere  of  intelli- 
gence, and  our  libraries  are  crowded  with  master-pieces  of 
eloquence,  controversy,  erudition  and  criticism  which  she  has 
opposed  to  the  sophisms  of  unbelief. 

Victorious  over  sophists  and  executioners,  the  Christian 
faith  has  made  itself  felt  even  by  matter.  Metals,  stone, 
marble,  canvass,  under  the  hand  of  the  artist,  have  declared 
in  a  thousand  forms  the  incarnation  of  the  author  of  all 
things. 

Mad  men  who  see  nothing  but  a  myth  in  this  stupendous 
event,  enumerate,  I  will  not  say,  the  worshippers  of  Christ, 
the  lips  which  invoke  his  name  at  the  moment  of  danger,  the 
hands  wrhich  grasp  his  cross  when  passing  over  the  gulf  of 
death ;  but  only  those  numerous  temples  reared  at  so  great 
a  cost  by  the  faith  of  nations,  those  religious  monuments  of 
every  kind,  those  crosses  which  cover  the  soil  of  our  cities 
and  our  countries,  and  crown  the  loftiest  summits ;  number 
our  universities,  our  schools,  our  asylums,  our  hospitals,  our 
houses  of  refuge,  our  monasteries ;  listen  to  the  religious 
sounds  which  descend  many  times  a  day  from  innumerable 
aerial  towers  to  remind  the  people  of  the  God  made  flesh ; 
and  then  say  if  all  this  is  the  work  of  folly ! 

Read  the  inscription  engraved  everywhere  upon  the  monu- 
VOL.  ii.  2 


14  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ments  of  cities  as  well  as  on  the  thatched  cabins  of  the 
country,  that  date  which  determines  the  birth-time  of  indivi- 
duals and  empires,  classifies  all  events,  presides  over  public 
and  private  acts,  and  shines  forth  from  the  frontispiece  of 
your  infamous  productions — for  it  is  always  in  the  year  of 
Christ.,  the  year  of  grace  and  truth,  eighteen  hundred,  <Sfc., 
that  you  undertake  to  teach  the  world  that  there  is  neither 
Christ,  nor  grace,  nor  truth ;  and  then  say :  Does  not  all  this 
manifest  a  great  absurdity  ? 

Who  are  you,  then,  that  accuse  the  human  race  of  bigotry  ? 
By  assailing  the  universal  conviction,  do  you  not  place 
yourselves  without  the  pale  of  human  reason? 

What  is  that  human  mind  to  which  you  would  appeal  with 
regard  to  all  things  1  It  is  your  individual  mind  with  which 
you  would  wish  to  control  thousands  of  opposing  minds. 
Wrhat  is  that  philosophy  which  you  would  oppose  without 
ceasing  to  Christianity  as  the  authority  of  authorities,  the  only 
authority  1  It  is  not  a  doctrine  (show  us  its  creed) ;  it  is  not 
a  society  (find  two  philosophers  who  think  alike)  ;  it  is  always 
an  individual,  that  is,  a  two  hundred  and  sixty  millionth  part 
of  the  Christian  population,  who  seating  himself  in  a  chair, 
or  seizing  the  pen  in  his  closet,  charges  with  imbecility  all 
present  and  past  generations,  and  announces  that  truth,  that 
great  unknown  of  the  ages,  is  about  to  manifest  itself  in  him ! 

Among  men  of  sense  I  find  none  but  physicians  whose 
attention  is  demanded  by  such  extravagance.  Let  us  then 
abandon  the  rationalist  to  their  charitable  cares  and  address- 
ing ourselves  to  the  two  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  Chris- 
tians who  are  so  unanimous  when  they  are  called  upon  to 
affirm  that  God  has  spoken  to  us  through  Christ,  and  let  us 
ask  of  them  what  Christ  has  said  and  what  religion  he  has 
given  to  men. 

At  this  question  a  multitude  of  discordant  voices  rise  on 
every  side,  and  prove  to  us  by  their  antagonism  that  the 


SKETCH    OF    CHRISTIAN    COMMUNIONS.  15 

Christian  family  has  not  escaped  the  scandals  and  ruptures 
predicted  by 'its  head  and  his  first  disciples.* 

Let  us  cast  a  glance  over  these  rival  societies,  each  of 
which  boasts  of  having  alone  rightly  comprehended  the 
doctrine  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER    V. 

SKETCH    OF    CHRISTIAN1    COMMUNIONS. COULD    THEY    ALL    BE 

THE    WORK    OF    CHRIST  ? LATITUDINARIAN    SYSTEM. 

ITS    PRINCIPLES. 

AT  the  head  of  Christian  communities,  stands  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  surpasses  them  all  by  its  antiquity,  the  number 
of  its  members  and  the  perfect  unity  of  its  doctrine.  Ask 
that  young  peasant  just  coming  from  catechism  what  his 
church  believes,  he  will  teach  you ;  and  all  the  Catholics  in 
the  world,  from  the  Roman  Pontiff  to  the  neophyte  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands  will  confirm  with  a  solemn  amen  the  words 
of  the  child. 

Then  come  the  Churches  of  the  East,  detached  at  different 
periods  from  the  catholic  stem.  Some,  which  separated  in 
the  fifth  and  sixth  century,  small  in  numbers,  vegetate  in  iso- 
lation in  Persia,  India,  Syria,  Abyssinia  and  Egypt ;  such  are 
the  Nestorians,  who  deny  the  unity  of  person  in  Jesus 
Christ;  the  Jacobites  or  Monophysites,  who  deny  the  dis- 
tinction of  natures.  Others,  more  numerous,  were  drawn  into 
the  schism  which  took  place  between  the  ninth  and  eleventh 
century,  through  the  ambition  of  the  two  patriarchs  of  Con- 
stantinople, Photius  and  Michael  Cerulareus.  With  the  ex- 

*  Necesse  est  enim  ut  veniant  scandala.  (Matth.  xviii.  7.)  Narr 
oportet  haereses  esse.  (I.  Cor.  xix.  19.) 


16  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ception  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  which  they 
agree  in  denying,  their  faith  would  not  differ  from  that  of 
Catholics,  as  well  as  we  can  judge  by  their  symbolic  books, 
condemned  as  they  are  to  a  profound  silence,  some  under 
the  Mussulman  scimitar,  others  under  the  despotic  adminis- 
tration of  the  Russian  Autocrat. 

The  last  in  date  of  the  Christian  societies,  but  also  the 
most  abundant  in  professions  of  faith,  is  Protestantism. 
Springing  into  life  in  the  16th  century,  at  the  voice  of  a 
Saxon  monk,  who  taught  the  world  that,  for  ten  centuries,  the 
universal  church  passing  from  one  abomination  into  another, 
had  at  last  fallen  into  the  power  of  Satan,  it  undertook  to  re- 
form the  work  of  Christ.  A  stupendous  labor,  which  three 
centuries  have  not  been  able  to  accomplish !  for  Protestantism 
is  alwa}'S  reforming.  Divided  from  the  commencement  into 
Lutheranism,  Calvinism,  and  Anglicanism,  it  has  seen  each 
of  its  branches  subdivided  into  a  multitude  of  opposing  sects. 
Their  names  alone  would  fill  a  volume ;  the  exposition  of 
their  doctrines  and  their  worship  would  form  a  library. 

Could  Christ  be  divided  ?*  Could  He  who  has  ordained 
that  the  most  perfect  union  should  be  the  distinctive  sign  of 
His  disciples,  He  who  has  formed  of  His  sheep  one  flock 
guided  by  one  Shepherdf — could  He  be  the  head  of  these  in- 
numerable societies,  as  different  in  faith  as  in  practice,  and 
armed  with  anathemas  against  each  other?  Would  He 
equally  ratify  in  Heaven  all  religious  decrees,  under  whatever 
authority  they  appear  here  below — whether  that  of  the  Pope, 
of  the  Czar,  the  King  of  Prussia,  or  the  Queen  of  England, 
of  a  Lutheran  consistory,  or  a  Calvinistic  synod? 

Could  Christ  speak  indifferently  through  the  mouth  of  the 
minister  who  preaches  his  divinity,  and  the  minister  who 
denies  it?  Would  he  teach  among  Catholics  and  Oriental 

*  Divisus  est  Christus  ?     (I.  Cor.  i.  13.) 
t  Luke  x.  15.— John  xvii.  21,  22,  23. 


SKETCH    OF    CHRISTIAN    COMMUNIONS.  17 

nations  the  real  presence  and  transubstantiation,  among  Luth- 
erans the  presence  without  transubstantiation,  and  would  he 
teach  Calvinists  and  Anglicans  to  ridicule  both  ?  Would 
he  be  satisfied  that  some  should  attribute  to  him  seven  sac- 
raments, others  two,  others  none  ?  Would  he  regard  with 
the  same  eye  the  temples  where  he  is  adored  as  the  victim 
of  propitiation  on  the  altar,  and  the  temples  where  the  euchar- 
istic  sacrifice  is  treated  as  an  invention  of  hell?  Would  he 
require  us  to  recognize  the  divine  influence  of  his  grace  in 
the  silent  meetings  where  the  Quakers  wait  for  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  reveal  to  one  of  them  the  truths  of  salvation,  which 
are  concealed  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  in  the  tumultuous 
meetings  of  the  Methodists,  where  justification  is  only  ob- 
tained by  cries,  howling,  jumping,  and  gambols  ? 

Could  Christ  graciously  associate  himself  with  all  the  im- 
piety, all  the  absurdities,  and  all  the  extravagances  which 
man  is  pleased  to  attribute  to  him  ?  Would  the  equality  of 
worships,  consecrated  by  certain  legislations  of  the  earth,  be 
also  an  article  of  the  divine  charter? 

"And  why  not?"  answer  the  latitudinarians  ;  that  is,  those 
among  the  Protestants,  who,  wishing  to  enlarge  the  way  to 
Heaven,  which  Christ  declares  so  narrow,*  have  judged  it 
best  to  remove  from  it  everything  which  could  prevent  men 
from  crowding  into  it.  Christianity,  revised  and  corrected 
by  them,  would  indeed  be  reduced  to  a  very  trifling  affair. 
All  that  is  essential,  according  to  them,  in  evangelical  doc- 
trine and  morality,  is  to  believe  that  God  spoke  to  us,  by 
Christ,  without  inquiring  too  closely  what  he  has  said,  and  to 
regard  and  treat  all  men  as  our  brothers.  The  rest  would  be 
only  harmless  materials  for  human  disputes.  As  to  that 
grotesque  assemblage  of  contradictory  worship  and  faith, 
ivhich  shocks  our  feeble  reason,  latitudinarians  only  see  in  it 

*  Matth.  vii.  14 
2* 


18  THE    SOLUTION   OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

a  spectacle  adapted  to  please  the  divine  eye,  which  is  un 
friendly  to  monotony. 

This  system,  which,  since  the  time  of  the  minister  Jurieu, 
its  inventor,  has  made  immense  progress  in  the  ranks  of  Pro- 
testantism, has  the  misfortune,  it  is  true,  of  indeed  coming  a 
little  too  late.  Why,  in  fact,  should  Europe  be  set  on  fire  for 
two  centuries?  Why  that  ferocious  assault  upon  the  Catho- 
lic Church,  if  its  pretended  superstitions  allowed  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  Christ  to  remain  intact  ? 

But,  although  invented  too  late,  latitudinarianism  or  indif- 
ferentism  (it  is  the  same  thing)  is  a  no  less  precious  discovery 
for  those  sectarians,  who,  seeing  one  doctrine  after  another 
melt  away  in  their  hands,  have  believed  that  Christian  charity 
would  succeed  in  covering  with  its  mantle  this  vast  sepulchre 
of  creeds. 

Yet,  to  escape  the  reproach  of  impiety  and  folly,  the  lati- 
tudinarian  must  necessarily  establish  as  a  principle,  and  con- 
vert into  a  demonstrable  fact,  one  of  the  three  following 
hypotheses : — 

1st  Christ  has  taught  but  one  thing ;  that  is,  that  he  is 
the  messenger  from  God.  He  has  imposed  only  one  duty 
upon  men  ;  that  of  loving  each  other. 

2d.  If  to  these  two  dogmas  the  author  of  Christianity  has 
added  others,  it  is  evidently  in  the  form  of  conversation,  and 
leaving  his  disciples  full  liberty  to  accept  or  reject  them. 

3d.  Even  if  Christ  had  wished  to  impose  on  his  disciples 
a  complete  system  of  faith,  and  a  minute  law  of  duty,  it  is 
evident  that  he  has  taken  no  sure  means  to  perpetuate  the 
knowledge  of  it ;  and  the  state  of  inability  in  which  he  has 
left  us  to  discover  the  true  doctrine,  must  extenuate,  at  the 
tribunal  of  divine  justice,  the  difference  of  religious  opinions. 

Let  us  examine  briefly  these  three  hypotheses,  under  both 
the  evangelical  and  rational  point  of  view. 


MYSTERIES.  19 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ABSURDITY    OF    THE    FIRST    HYPOTHESIS. NATURE    AND 

NECESSITY    OF    MYSTERIES. 

IF  Christ  descended  from  heaven  only  to  say  to  us,  "  Know 
that  I  am  the  messenger  from  God,  and  that  you  should  all 
regard  yourselves  as  His  children,"  good  sense  perceives  but 
one  thing  in  this  prodigious  phenomenon, — the  total  eclipse 
of  that  sovereign  sagacity  which  always  proportions  the 
strength  of  means  to  the  greatness  of  the  end. 

What  could  be  indeed  more  futile  or  more  supremely  ab- 
surd than  the  office  of  the  Christ,  who,  after  having  kept  the 
world  in  expectation  for  forty  centuries,  at  length  appears, 
justifies  His  divine  mandate  by  various  miracles,  then,  at  the 
moment  when  the  world,  convinced,  is  waiting  for  great  reve- 
lations, ascends  suddenly  to  Heaven,  to  enjoy  there,  doubt- 
less, the  strange  embarrassment  in  which  He  leaves  mortals ! 
This  would  be  an  undertaking  worthy  of  those  juggling  gods 
of  India,  who  -came  every  five  or  six  thousand  years  to  dis- 
port upon  the  earth,  and  provoke  the  merriment  even  of  their 
worshippers. 

The  divine  character  of  Christ,  and  the  brotherhood  of 
men,  are  certainly  two  admirable  features ;  but,  separated 
from  the  truths  which  form  their  indispensable  accompani- 
ment, what  can  be  their  intellectual  and  moral  bearing  ?  By 
the  numerous  unanswerable  questions  which  they  raise,  they 
would  be  a  new  enigma  added  to  other  enigmas,  an  increase 
of  the  thick  darkness  which  enveloped  the  human  mind  before 
the  coining  of  Christ. 

Such  is  the  fate  of  this  great  achievement  of  divine  favor 
and  wisdom,  in  the  hands  of  those  reformers  who  wish  for  a 
religion  without  mystery — a  would-be  reasonable  Christianity 


20  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

To  those  profound  doctrines,  eminently  consoling  and  rich  in 
moral  results,  which  are  connected  with  the  idea  of  the  Word 
made  flesh,  succeed  nonentities  and  absurdities;  and  the  God 
of  the  latitudinarians,  fashioned  after  their  likeness,  by  reason 
of  his  simplicity,  becomes  a  fool. 

Whatever  idea  we  form  of  the  founder  of  Christianity,  as 
soon  as  the  quality  of  ambassador  of  the  Most  High  and  Re- 
deemer of  humanity  is  granted  him,  we  must  necessarily 
allow  him  also  the  mission  of  teaching  to  the  world,  not  a 
few  truths  only,  but  all  truth,  which  alone  is  capable  of  lib- 
erating the  human  mind  that  had  become  the  sport  of  all 
errors.*  No  moral  regeneration  was  possible  without  a 
luminous  and  complete  body  of  doctrine  which  should  restore 
the  almost  extinguished  idea  of  divine  sovereignty,  and  oblige 
man,  by  the  double  motive  of  fear  and  love,  to  quit  his  pride 
and  his  egotism,  and  to  re-establish  himself  in  true  relations 
with  God  and  his  fellow-men. 

Man  must,  indeed,  expect  mysteries  in  instruction  emanat- 
ing from  so  high  a  source,  and  embracing  universal  science. 
Among  many  reasons  which  might  be  given  for  this,  I  shall 
only  allude  to  a  few. 

1.  The  Divine  Revealer  could  not  limit  himself  to  the 
sphere  of  reason,  according  to  the  example  of  philosophers, 
who  convince  only  by  the  authority  of  evidence,  and  inspire 
faith  by  the  aid  of  demonstrations  alone.  Strong  in  the  tes- 
timony of  his  works,f  he  had  a  right  to  demand  belief,  and 
his  words,  in  order  to  be  comprehended  by  all,  must  neces- 
sarily abandon  a  scientific  form.  Can  we  refuse  to  the  Divine 
Lawgiver  that  right  which  is  granted  to  the  fallible  legisla- 
tors of  this  world,  to  prescribe  what  they  deem  conformable 
to  good  order,  without  giving  a  reason  for  their  laws? 

*  Veritas  liberabit  vos  .  .  .  Docebit  vos  omnem  veritatem.   (John 
viii.  32.     xvi.  13.) 
t  John  v.  36. 


MYSTERIES.  21 


Can  he  demand  nothing  from  us  until  he  has  first  initiated 
us  into  the  secrets  of  the  eternal  order  ?  What  would  become 
of  society  in  those  places  where  the  letter  of  the  laws  are 
binding  on  those  only  who  comprehend  the  spirit  of  them  ? 

2d.  Religious  truth,  rightly  understood,  is  only  God  reveal- 
ing himself  to  our  intelligence.  It  is  then  essentially  un- 
limited and  infinite,  and  could  not  fall  entire  within  the  limits 
of  human  comprehension,  even  if  it  were  uttered  by  a  divine 
mouth.  A  true  religion,  without  mysteries,  would  be  the  finite 
containing  the  Infinite,  which  is  a  glaring  absurdity. 

3dly.  Mystery  is  a  desire  of  the  heart  of  man — a  merciless 
destroyer  of  the  truths  which  his  thought  comprehends.*  He 
only  yields  respect  and  obedience  to  those  which  command 
him  and  connect  him  with  that  Infinite  Being  towards  whom 
an  irresistible  instinct  attracts  him. 

4thly.  Finally,  the  perfectibility  of  the  human  mind  evi- 
dently implies  mystery.  There  is  no  progress  without  the 
transition  from  ignorance  to  simple  knowledge,  and  from  this 
to  perfect  intelligence.  Truths  are  always  known  before 
being  comprehended.f  They  present  themselves  as  facts, 

*  Diminutise  sunt  veritates  a  filiis  hominum.  (Ps.  xi.  2.)  These 
words  express  well  the  fatal  art  which  man  possesses  of  destroying 
truths  by  analyzing  them.  Truth  is  being ;  as  there  is  only  one  self- 
subsisting  Being,  through  whom  everything  subsists,  there  is  also  only 
one  necessary,  immutable  truth,  which  carries  in  itself  its  own  reason, 
and  the  reason  for  all  that  is.  Every  truth  which  is  separated  from  this 
truth  leads  astray,  rests  on  nothing,  is  changed  to  error.  It  is  a  son 
without  a  father,  an  effect  without  a  cause,  a  ray  which  grows  pale  and 
is  extinguished  when  it  withdraws  from  its  luminous  center.  Error  is 
only  truth  out  of  place.  Hence,  it  follows,  that  all  truth  is  a  mystery, 
since  its  final  reason  is  concealed  from  our  eyes  in  the  bosom  of  the 
infinite  essence.  We  have  seen  nothing  to  its  depth  until  we  compre- 
hend that  we  cannot  see  the  depth  of  anything.  Repugnance  to  mys- 
teries is  an  infallible  symptom  of  short-sightedness. 

f  Mystery  is  a  truth  known  and  not  comprehended :  known  in  its 
existence,  unknown  in  its  essence. 


22  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

supported  by  testimony.  In  proportion  as  facts  multiply, 
their  connection  is  developed  under  the  influence  of  reflection ; 
they  explain  each  other;  the  luminous  chain  of  truths  is 
found,  and  intelligence  succeeds  to  faith.  Then  we  no  longer 
say,  I  believe  that  is ;  but  we  say,  I  see  that  must  be. 

See  the  young  man  as  he  enters  upon  the  study  of  science 
Everything  is  a  mystery  to  him.  He  advances  into  that  ob- 
scure country,  guided  by  the  words  of  his  master.  He  hears 
more  than  he  sees.  He  registers  in  good  faith  the  data  that 
are  furnished  him.  Insensibly  the  light  appears ;  isolated, 
floating  fragments  of  knowledge  approach  each  other,  unite 
and  consolidate,  and  throw  light  upon  each  other.  Reason 
supplants  authority,  and  the  shades  of  faith  vanish  before  the 
light  of  intelligence. 

Put  an  arrogant  spirit  in  place  of  the  docile  scholar,  who 
will  only  consent  to  walk  in  the  full  sunshine  of  evidence, 
and  attempts  to  comprehend  everything  before  knowing  any- 
thing, he  will  never  know  or  comprehend  anything.  To  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  truth,  as  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven  (and  both  mean  the  same  thing),  we  must  become  as 
little  children.*  Boasters  cannot  pass. 

Such  being  the  law  of  our  intellectual  development,  is  it 
not  natural  that  God  should  conform  Himself  to  it,  in  the 
plans  which  he  proposes  we  should  follow  here  below  ? 
While  our  mind  is  clogged  by  the  weight  of  its  organs,  it 
cannot  rise  to  the  intuition  of  the  sublime  realities  of  the 
superior  world,  and  the  Divine  Preceptor  must  needs  initiate 
it  by  degrees  into  an  order  of  knowledge  whose  immeasurable 
height  the  eye  of  an  archangel  itself  could  not  reach. 

The  supernatural  facts  which  the  divine  Word  proposes  to 
our  belief,  such  as  the  existence  of  three  divine  persons,  the 
union  of  the  second  among  them  with  humanity,  the  death  of 
the  God-man  for  the  salvation  of  all,  the  prodigious  love  ha 

*  Matt,  xviii.  3. 


MYSTERIES.  23 


shows  us  in  the  Eucharist,  &c. ;  these  facts,  incomprehensible 
as  they  are  in  themselves,  are  none  the  less  magnificent 
glimpses  of  the  Divine  Being,  an  inexhaustible  mine  of  know- 
ledge and  feeling.  Penetrated  by  meditation,  they  offer  to 
the  mind  an  enrapturing  image  of  the  divine  goodness,  and 
excite  in  the  heart  the  flames  of  love.  God  is  no  longer  .a 
terrible  and  mysterious  sovereign,  surrounded  with  thunder 
and  lightning,  whose  greatness  crushes  our  lowliness,  whose 
justice  terrifies  our  corruption.  He  is  charity,*  who,  in  the 
excess  of  his  love,  gave  himself  up  to  death  for  us.  He  is 
the  ardent  lover  of  our  souls,  who,  in  order  to  conduct  us  into 
the  bosom  of  eternal  joy,  takes  upon  himself,  with  delight,  the 
weight  of  our  misery,  and  would  share  the  sorrows  of  our 
pilgrimage.-}- 

Penetrated  by  these  burning  truths,  the  human  heart  dilates, 
expands,  rushes  with  ardor  into  the  elevated  path  of  evan- 
gelical precepts,  and,  going  from  virtue  to  virtue,  she  sighs  for 
the  moment,  when,  seeing  God  without  a  cloud,  she  can  love 
him  without  restraint. 

Deprive  Christianity  of  this  ardent  faith,  and  reduce  it  to 
the  beggarly  elements  of  a  philosophical  religion,  the  divine 
alliance  disappears,  God  retires  into  the  depths  of  eternity, 
man  remains  groveling  in  the  earth,  given  over  to  the  nar- 
rowness of  selfishness,  to  the  brutality  of  his  appetites,  and  to 
the  sleep  of  indifference. 

This  is  sufficient  to  explain  that  mystery  lies  in  the  condi- 
tions of  our  actual  existence,  and  that  in  religion,  even  more 
than  in  science,  comprehension  is  attained  only  through  faith. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  profession  of  faith  of  the  latitudi- 
narians,  and  show  that  the  extreme  scantiness  of  its  doctrines 
and  morality  are  as  contrary  to  the  evangelical  revelations 
as  to  the  dictates  of  reason. 

A  glance  at  the  New  Testament  is  sufficient  to  convince 
•  1  John  iv.  8.  t  Prov.  viii.  31. 


24      THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 

us  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  embraced  in  their  teaching  the 
most  profound  and  varied  questions.  The  first  words  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  at  his  entrance  upon  his  earthly  career,  the  first 
which  his  precursor  John  uttered  upon  the  banks  of  the  Jor- 
dan, the  first  also  which  came  forth  from  the  mouth  of  the 
apostles,  is,  Repent,  for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at  hand;* 
a  mysterious  doctrine,  which  is  necessarily  allied  to  a  vast 
dogmatic  and  moral  theory.  That  this  theory  exists  in  the 
gospels  and  writings  of  the  apostles,  is  as  clear  as  the  sun- 
light ;  it  is  also  a  fact  demonstrated  both  by  the  harmony  of 
all  Christian  societies  concerning  certain  articles  of  faith, 
such  as  those  set  forth  in  the  Apostles'  Creed,  and  by  their 
fierce  contests  in  regard  to  other  points. 

What,  indeed,  was  the  object  of  all  the  great  controversies 
which  fill  the  annals  of  Christianity  ?  Simply  to  know  if 
such  a  dogma,  maintained  by  some,  and  denied  by  others, 
makes  a  part  or  not  of  the  deposit  of  Christian  doctrines. 

Constrained  to  abandon  the  untenable  hypothesis  of  one 
single  dogma  taught  by  Christ,  the  latitudinarians  retrench 
themselves  in  their  old  distinction  of  fundamental  doctrines, 
which  cannot  be  denied  without  denying  Christianity,  and 
doctrines  not  fundamental,  which  every  one  is  free  to  believe 
or  reject  without  ceasing  to  be  a  Christian ;  and  they  place 
in  this  last  class  all  religious  creeds,  except  the  divine  mission 
of  Christ. 

There  is,  as  we  seen,  a  second  hypothesis,  serving  as  a 
basis  for  latitudinarianism.  Let  us  examine  it,  and  see  if  the 
faith  of  the  Christian  must  be  reduced  to  this  singular  for- 
mula :  I  believe  that  God  has  sent  his  Son  to  men  to  teach 
them  nothing. 

*  Matth.  iii.  2.    iv.  17.— Act.  Ap.  ii.  38. 


DOCTRINAL  INTOLERANCE  OF  CHRIST.     25 


CHAPTER    VII. 

FALSENESS    OF    THE    SECOND    HYPOTHESIS. DOCTRINAL    IN- 
TOLERANCE   OF    CHRIST   AND    HIS    APOSTLES. 

To  change  the  Gospel  into  a  collection  of  indifferent  doc- 
trines, of  opinions  accidentally  expressed  by  the  Divine  Tea- 
cher, and  without  any  intention  of  imposing  them  upon  the 
belief  of  his  disciples,  is  boldly  to  contradict  Christ,  the  Apos- 
tles, and  all  Christian  ages;  it  is  to  offend  reason. 

The  most  striking  trait  of  the  character  of  Jesus  Christ — • 
that  which  most  impressed  the  Jews,  and  which  still  shines 
forth  on  every  page  of  the  Gospel,  is  the  tone  of  authority 
with  which  he  teaches,  and  the  obligation  which  he  imposes 
on  all  to  believe  his  doctrine.*  Wonderfully  condescending 
in  everything  else,  he  shows  himself  constantly  inflexible  on 
this  point. 

Convinced  that  his  words  will  survive  heaven  and  earth,  he 
does  not  permit  an  iota  to  be  taken  from  them ;  he  excludes 
from  the  kingdom  of  heaven  him  who,  by  his  words  and  his 
example,  would  dare  to  violate  the  least  of  his  precepts,  f 

A  vast  multitude  followed  him,  for  several  days,  in  the  wil- 
derness, eager  for  the  words  of  grace  and  truth  which  fell 
from  his  mouth.  Among  these  words  there  is  one  which  as- 
tonishes and  repels  his  auditors.  What  will  the  good  shepherd 
do,  who  shrinks  from  nothing  when  a  wandering  sheep  is  to 
be  brought  back  to  the  fold?  Will  he  attempt  an  accomo- 
dation,  will  he  soften  by  explanations  what  is  judged  hard 
lind  insupportable  ?\  w  Far  from  it ;  he  repeats  five  times  the 
objectionable  proposition,  and  always  with  an  increasing 
energy  of  expression.  The  scandal  infected  his  disciples. 
Jesus,  without  being  moved  by  so  general  a  defection,  af- 

*  Matth.  vii.  23.         f  Matth.  v.  18.  xxiv.  35.         f  John  vi.  53,  01 
VOL.    II.  3 


26  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

firms  anew  what  he  has  said.  Remaining  alone  with  the 
twelve  Apostles,  he  wishes  them  to  declare  themselves,  and, 
by  the  question  which  he  addresses  to  them,  he  places  them 
under  the  necessity  of  believing  in  the  most  incomprehensible 
of  mysteries,  or  retiring.* 

He  demands  of  his  disciples  faith ;  but  a  faith  which  em- 
braces all  his  teachings,  which  he  commends  and  extols  with 
complacency  whenever  he  finds  the  opportunity,  and  which 
he  prescribes  as  an  indispensable  condition  of  salvation. 
"  Go,"  said  he  to  his  Apostles,  at  the  moment  of  quitting  them, 
"  teach  ye  all  nations,  instructing  them  to  observe  all  things 
whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you!  He  that  believeth  shall 
be  saved,  and  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  condemned."  f 

This  absolute  authority  of  Christ  in  matters  of  doctrine, 
we  find  again  in  the  Apostles.  Depositaries  of  the  thought 
of  their  Master,  and  commissioned  to  establish  it  throughout 
the  world,  they  also  require  that  every  contrary  thought 
should  be  brought  low,  that  every  intellect  should  bend  undei 
the  yoke  of  faith.  J  If  they  are  publicly  scourged,  or  led 
from  prison  to  prison,  nothing  is  heard  from  their  lips  but 
prayers  and  benedictions  for  their  persecutors ;  but  if  then 
doctrine  is  assailed,  if  presumptuous  spirits  venture  to  mingle 
their  own  conceptions  with  it,  their  zeal  is  kindled;  they 
brand  the  innovators  as  ministers  of  the  evil  one,  and  strike 
with  anathema  whoever  dares  to  pervert  their  teaching,  be  it 
an  angel  from  Heaven. § 

And  what  are  the  errors  which  tljey  resist  with  so  much 
force  ?  they  are  often  opinions  in  appearance  inoffensive,  but 
which  by  the  leaven  of  novelty  that  they  introduce  into  the 
human  mind,  would  soon  corrupt  the  purity  of  its  faith. ]| 

The  Apostles  inculcate  on  every  occasion,  upon  the  faith- 
ful and  their  teachers,  a  sacred  respect  for  all  truths  uttered 

*  John  vi.  GS.         t  Matth.  xxviii.  19,  20.— Mark  xyi.  15,  IQ. 
J  II.  Cpr.  *.  5.  §  Ga}at.  i.  8.  ||  Ibid.  9. 


NECESSITY    OF    DOCTRINAL    INTOLERANCE.         27 

by  the  lips  of  Christ,  whatever  is  their  relative  importance. 
"  Keep  that  which  is  committed  to  thy  trust,"  said  they  to  the 
intter,  "  avoiding  the  profane  novelties  of  words."*  "  Avoid 
them  who  corrupt  the  doctrine  which  you  have  learnt  from 
Jesus  Christ  by  our  mouth  .  .  .  Do  not  say  to  him  even, 
God  speed  you."f 

Faithful  to  these  principles,  the  Christians  never  imagined 
before  the  time  of  Jurieu,  that  among  the  doctrines  confided 
by  Christ  to  his  Church,  there  could  be  any  unimportant  to 
salvation,  and  the  obstinate  denial  of  which  would  not  imply 
the  crime  of  infidelity.  Whenever  a  new  heresy  arose,  they 
did  not  examine  whether  the  doctrine  denied  was  or  was  not 
fundamental,  but  it  was  sufficient  that  it  made  part  of  the 
treasure  of  faith,  and  the  innovators  were  separated  from  the 
society  of  the  faithful. 

"  There  is  but  one  Lord,  one  faith."  "  Whoever  refuses  to 
hear  the  Church  let  him  become  a  stranger  like  the  infidel," 
such  was  the  cry  of  all  antiquity. 

Nothing  can  be  imagined  then  more  opposed  to  Scripture 
and  the  general  conscience  of  Christians,  than  that  pretended 
liberty  of  admitting  or  rejecting  a  part  of  the  doctrines  and 
precepts  of  Christ.  We  will  also  show  that  nothing  is  more 
opposed  to  the  principles  of  sound  philosophy. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

NECESSITY    OF    DOCTRINAL    INTOLERANCE.  -  ABSURDITY    OF 
THE    THIRD    HYPOTHESIS. 

As  soon  as  reason,  yielding  to  the  torrent  of  light  which 
drew  the  world  to  the  foot  of  the  cross,  once  said  to  the 


*  Tim.  vi.  20.  f  R°™-  ™.  17.—  II.  John,  10. 


28  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


author  of  Christianity  with  Simon,  son  of  Jonas :  "  Thou  art 
truly  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God;  .  .  .  thou  hast 
the  words  of  eternal  life,"  there  is  an  obligation  for  her  to 
accept  indiscriminately  all  the  dogmas  and  all  the  precepts 
which  emanated  from  that  divine  mouth.  She  cannot  reject 
one  of  them  under  pretext  of  uncertainty  or  inutility,  without 
assuming  a  superiority  to  God,  without  pretending  to  under- 
stand better  than  he  the  divine  system,  without  casting  on 
him  the  reproach  no  less  absurd  than  impious,  of  ignorance, 
deception  and  trifling. 

To  wish  that  Christ  had  allowed  man  so  monstrous  a 
liberty,  is  to  degrade  immeasurably  the  divine  character 
which  we  recognise  in  him,  and  assign  to  him  so  mean  a  part 
in  the  religious  society  that  no  man  of  sense  and  spirit  would 
accept  it  in  his  own  family.  What  latitudinarian  would  toler- 
ate in  his  children  the  pretension  of  controlling  his  orders,  and 
receiving  or  rejecting  them  according  to  their  good  pleasure ! 

Nothing  then  is  more  rational,  or  more  logical  than  the 
doctrinal  intolerance  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles.  It  wras 
inherent  in  their  office  as  organs  of  the  thought  of  the  Most 
High.  It  was  imposed  upon  them  by  the  obligation  to  pre- 
serve that  thought  intact,  and  to  transmit  it  pure  from  all 
human  alloy  to  the  farthest  generations. 

If  these  are  unimportant  doctrines,  they  are  only  so  in  the 
eyes  of  ignorance  incapable  of  comprehending  the  scope  of 
them.  In  fact  there  are  none,  and  there  can  be  none.  There 
is  such  a  relation  among  truths  as  well  as  among  errors,  that 
they  permit  no  separation.  Their  intimate  connexion  renders 
them  all  fundamental.  We  must  admit  or  reject  them  all, 
under  pain  of  inconsistency. 

Follow  in  its  development  one  truth  of  the  moral  order,  it 
will  lead  you,  from  deduction  to  deduction,  to  full  and  perfect 
truth,  to  Christianity.*  For  the  same  reason,  every  error,  or 

*  Rom.  X.  12.— I.  Cor.  xii.  13. — Galat.  iii.  23.— Eccless.  iii.  11. 


NECESSITY    OF    DOCTRINAL    INTOLERANCE.         29 

the  denial  of  any  truth  whatever,  in  the  same  order,  leads 
inevitably,  sooner  or  later  to  the  last  negation,  atheism.  We 
have  the  history  of  the  human  mind  to  prove  that  every 
heresy,  except  in  case  of  a  return  to  orthodoxy  or  a  violent 
death,  becomes  extinguished  in  deism,  and  that  pantheism  is 
the  end  of  every  philosophic  system,  which  has  a  flaw. 

What  is  the  consequence  ?  that  truth  is  safe  and  perma- 
nent only  through  its  intolerance,  and  that  it  comes  to  an  end 
the  moment  it  capitulates  with  error.  It  follows  that  the 
religion  of  Christ,  which  is  to  survive  the  world,  could  not 
have  survived  its  founder  a  century,  if  the  Christian  commu- 
nity had  not  maintained  between  its  innovator  and  itself  the 
formidable  barrier  of  anathema. 

To  these  two  motives  for  doctrinal  intolerance  let  us  add  a 
third,  not  less  decisive,  the  manifest  aim  of  the  Gospel  revela- 
tion. What  is  this  aim  ?  it  is  visibly  to  re-unite  the  human 
family,  separated  from  its  beginning  by  error  and  deceit ;  it 
is  to  banish  the  human  distinction  of  Jew  and  Roman,  Greek 
and  Barbarian,  master  and  slave,  great  and  small,  and  to 
convert  all  the  children  of  men  into  children  of  God,  mem- 
bers of  the  same  body,  animated  by  the  same  spirit,  under 
one  head,  Christ ;  in  one  word  to  offer  everywhere  to  the 
love  of  heaven  and  the  admiration  of  the  world,  the  wonder- 
ful spectacle  of  those  first  believers,  who  had  but  one  heart 
and  one  soul.* 

How  can  this  blending  of  individuals  and  nations,  this  per- 
fect harmony  of  mind  and  will,. be  effected  without  the  influ- 
ence of  a  uniform  invariable  belief,  and  without  the  abolition 
of  thine  and  mine  in  matters  of  faith.     He  is  ignorant  of 
man  and  of  history,  who  does  not  know  that  religious  differ- 
ences are  of  all  others,  the  deepest  and  most  irremediable, 
and  are  the  most  fruitful  causes  of  animosity  and  disastrous 
outbreaks.     It  is  without  doubt  the  duty  of  Christian  charity 
*  Act.  Ap.  iv.  32. 
3* 


30  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

to  cherish  tenderly  the  person  of  him  whose  errors  we  detest; 
but  does  not  this  virtue,  the  fruit  of  the  glowing  inspiration 
of  faith  always  wither  under  the  icy  breath  of  doubt,  and  in 
the  blasting  wind  of  controversy. 

The  union  of  all  men  in  submission  to  the  same  truths,  in 
the  practice  of  the  same  duties,  in  the  expectation  of  the 
same  future  is  evidently  the  design  of  our  Heavenly  Father 
in  the  choice  he  has  made  of  Christ  to  re-establish  in  unity 
all  things  that  are  in  Heaven  and  in  earth.* 

Unity  of  thought  and  feeling,  elevating  itself  in  Christians 
to  the  perfection  of  Divine  unity,  is  the  most  ardent  desire  of 
Christ,  the  object  of  his  toils  and  death,  the  fruit  which  he 
promised  himself  from  the  institutions  which  he  bequeathed 
to  the  world.f 

Unity  of  faith  and  worship  was  the  constant  motto  of  the 
Apostles,  and  teachers,  and  of  the  faithful  in  all  ages ;  this  is 
the  first  want  of  society,  so  frequently  uptorn  by  religious 
dissensions ;  this  is  the  universal  wish ;  and  yet  there  is  not  a 
single  latitudinarian  who  would  permit  among  his  followers 
the  divisions  which  he  judges  innocent  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 

What  remains  then  to  the  advocates  of  toleration  in 
defence  of  a  system  which  offends  reason  as  well  as  faith  ? 
Will  they  say  that  liberty  of  thought  on  religious  subjects  is 
the  necessary  result  of  an  inability  to  know  what  is  the  pure 
scriptural  Christian  doctrine  ?  But  if  this  inability  existed, 
would  it  not  imply  in  Christ  a  total  want  of  wisdom  and  even 
of  justice  ?  How  can  it  be  reconciled  with  the  obligation 
imposed  upon  all  men  to  believe  the  Gospel  and  observe  ah1 
the  precepts  of  it,  under  penalty  of  being  eternally  cast  off 
by  God? 

Could  Christ,  the  founder  of  a  religion  which  can  have  no 
other  limits  than  those  of  the  universe  and  of  time,  have 
neglected  the  very  means  of  perpetuating  the  knowledge  of 
*  Ephes.  i.  10.  f  J°hn  xv»-  21  et  seq.— II.  Cor.  x.  17. 


RULE    OF    FAITH.  31 


it.  A  mediator  of  the  eternal  covenant  which  was  to  put 
man  in  possession  of  the  celestial  inheritance,  could  he  leave 
him  in  ignorance  of  the  conditions  annexed  to  his  salvation  ? 
Can  it  be  true,  indeed,  that  the  author  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment died  intestate  ? 


CHAPTER    IX. 

RULE    OF    FAITH. PROTESTANT    RULE. CATHOLIC    RULE. 

HAS  Christ  established  a  rule  of  faith,  that  is  to  say,  an 
easy  and  sure  means  of  perpetuating  his  doctrine  and  extend- 
ing the  certain  knowledge  of  it  to  every  well-disposed  man  ? 
Yes,  answer  all  Christians  who  are  exempt  from  the  evil  of 
indifference. 

What  is  this  rule  ?  It  is  the  Bible  and  the  Bible  only,  Pro- 
testants answer,  with  one  voice.  There  alone  is  found  the 
divine  word  pure  from  all  profane  alloy.  Read  the  Bible  in 
sincerity,  and  God  himself  will  speak  to  you,  according  to 
the  promise  of  the  prophet :  "  They  shall  be  all  taught  of 
God."*  To  listen  to  any  other  master  is  to  rush  into  error ; 
for  it  is  written  :  "  Every  man  is  a  liar."  f 

The  Bible,  answer  the  Catholics,  and  with  them  the  Eastern 
schismatics,  is  certainly  the  principal  source  of  Christian  faith ; 
but  it  cannot  be  the  only  rule :  for  it  does  not  contain  all  the 
teachings  of  Christ ;  and  those  which  it  does  contain  are  not 
within  the  reach  of  all  understandings.  To  be  assured  of 
possessing  the  Christian  doctrine  in  its  completeness,  it  is 
necessarj',  first,  to  know  the  divine  word  orally  committed  to 
the  disciples ;  secondly,  to  understand  the  Scripture  in  its  true 
sense.  Now  Christ  has  provided  for  this  double  want,  by  the 
*  John  vi.  45.  t  Ps.  cxv.  2. 


32  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

establishment  of  a  body  of  teachers,  commanded  to  preach 
his  religion  throughout  all  the  world,  and  protected  from  error 
by  the  promise  which  he  has  made  to  be  with  them  all  days, 
even  to  the  end  of  time.  To  listen  to  them,  is  to  listen  to 
Christ  himself; — in  one  word,  to  read  the  Bible  attentively, 
and  to  hold  as  indisputable  the  sense  which  each  one  believes 
he  finds  in  it,  without  regard  to  the  manner  in  which  others 
understand  it,  is,  according  to  Protestants,  the  only  means  we 
have  of  knowing  the  true  doctrine  of  Christ. 

To  regard  this  body  of  teachers  as  the  guardian  and  infal- 
lible interpreter  of  the  divine  word,  whether  written  or  tradi- 
tional, and  to  submit  our  minds  to  their  teaching  as  to  that 
of  Jesus  Christ  himself — such  is  the  rule  of  faith  admitted  at 
all  times  by  the  Catholics,  and  also  by  the  schismatic  churches 
of  the  East. 

These  are,  as  every  one  knows,  the  two  fundamental  prin- 
ciples, the  one  of  Protestantism,  the  other  of  Catholicism. 
These  principles,  inasmuch  as  they  are  constituent  and  fun- 
damental, necessarily  lead  to  the  triumph  or  the  ruin  of  the 
doctrines  which  are  attached  to  them,  according  as  they  are 
recognized  to  be  true  or  false.  If  it  is  true  that  every  one, 
by  divine  right,  may  be  his  own  sole  master  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  Scripture,  it  is  evident  that  all  the  biblical  interpre- 
tations hitherto  made  are  irreproachable,  however  absurd  and 
impious  they  may  appear;  for,  to  have  a  right  to  condemn 
them,  it  would  be  necessary  to  prove  that  their  authors  did 
not  find  in  Scripture  what  they  pretended  to  find  there ;  but 
this  is  an  interior,  individual  fact,  for  which  they  are  respon- 
sible only  to  God  and  their  own  consciences. 

If  it  is  shown,  on  the  contrary,  that  Christ  has  established 
a  teaching  church,  and  that  he  has  invested  it  with  an  infal- 
lible authority,  it  is  clear  that  all  the  doctrines  of  this  church 
find-in  its  infallibility  a  complete  justification.  "It  is  time 
entirely  thrown  away,"  said  an  able  Protestant  minister,  "  to 


APOSTOLIC    TIMES.  33 


discuss  with  this  church  its  dogmas  and  its  worship,  since  its 
dogmas  and  its  worship  are  justified  from  the  moment  its  au- 
thority is  admitted."  *  "  Let  it  be  proved  to  me  to-day,"  said 
Rousseau,  "  that,  in  matters  of  faith,  I  am  obliged  to  submit 
to  the  decisions  of  some  one,  to-morrow  I  would  become  a 
Catholic,  and  every  consistent  and  true  man  would  follow  my 
example."  f 

But  these  two  principles  are  contradictory,  and  the  truth  of 
the  one  necessarily  implies  the  falseness  of  the  other.  If 
Christ  has  not  established  any  medium  of  communication  be- 
tween himself  and  man  but  the  Bible,  the  authority  which  the 
Catholic  Church  assumes  is  manifestly  a  usurpation ;  but,  if 
we  recognize  in  this  authority  a  divine  establishment,  Protes- 
tantism is  indisputably  rebellion  against  Christ. 

It  is  sufficient  to  point  out  the  high  importance  of  this  dis- 
cussion, and  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader  to  the  com- 
parison we  are  about  to  make  of  these  two  principles,  in  the 
scriptural,  moral,  and  historical  point  of  view. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    PROTESTANT    PRINCIPLE    FINDS    NOTHING    WHICH    DOES 

NOT    CONDEMN    IT    IN    THE    BIBLE,    AND    IN    THE    HISTORY 

OF    THE    APOSTOLIC    TIMES. 

ARE  the  reading  and  individual  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
the  means  chosen  by  Christ  to  conduct  men  to  the  knowledge 
and  practice  of  his  religion  ? 

This  is  a  question  of  fact,  to  be  resolved  by  the  testimony 
of  the  sacred  writers,  since  Protestants  repel  every  other  tes- 

*  Theses deM.  J.  E;Naville.   Dissert.  Prelim,  eh.  iv.    Geneva,  1839 
-f  Lettres  ecrites  tie  la  Montague,  let.  2d. 


34  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

tirnony  in  matters  of  religion.  Let  them  show  us,  then,  the 
page  of  the  New  Testament,  where  Jesus  Christ  obliges  or 
even  invites  men  to  read  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  to  receive 
as  divine  the  doctrine  which  each  believes  he  finds  there.  For 
three  centuries  Protestantism  has  examined  and  ransacked 
the  Bible,  and  this  decisive  page  is  yet  to  be  found. 

Containing  no  special  or  formal  command,  does  the  Gospel 
furnish  us  with  any  hints  which  betray  in  Christ  and  his  Apos- 
tles the  intention  of  writing  and  entrusting  to  a  book  the 
mission  of  converting  the  world  ?  By  no  means.  Always 
and  everywhere  Jesus  teaches  his  doctrines  orally ;  once  only 
he  is  seen  writing,  and  it  is  with  his  finger  on  the  ground.* 
He  orders  his  Apostles  to  preach  his  religion  throughout  the 
world — a  ministry  which  is  to  finish  with  the  world  j- — he  no 
where  orders  them  to  write. 

The  Apostles  commence  their  labors ;  their  voice  is  heard 
from  Judea  to  Spain  and  the  Indies ;  everywhere  they  found 
churches,  confiding  their  doctrine  to  faithful  men,  who  shall  in 
their  turn  teach  olliers.^ 

Only  six  of  them  wrote  anything.  St.  Matthew,  the  first 
in  time,  did  not  take  pen  in  hand,  according  to  all  appearance, 
untH  six  years  after  the  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ  St.  John, 
who  closes  the  series  of  sacred  writings,  did  not  publish  the 
Apocalypse,  his  gospel  and  letters,  till  the  ten  last  years  of 
the  first  century ;  that  is,  about  forty  years  after  the  period 
when  St.  Paul  wrote  to  the  Romans:  Your  faith  is  spoken  of 
in  the  whole  world.§ 

If  we  examine  these  writings,  we  shall  find  nothing  in  their 
form  or  contents  which  indicates  in  the  authors  the  design  of 
changing  the  method  of  instruction  previously  pursued,  and 
giving  to  the  nations  a  popular  and  complete  course  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine. 

The  manifest  aim  of  the  four  Evangelists,  in  their  abridged 

*  John  viii.  6.     f  Matth.  xxviii.  19.     J  2  Tim.  ii.  2.     §  Rom.  i.  8. 


APOSTOLIC    TIMES.  35 

recital  of  the  life  of  the  Savior,  is  not  only  to  give  a  precise 
form  to  his  teachings,  but  to  show,  by  the  irresistible  splendor 
of  his  miracles  and  the  accomplishment  of  the  ancient  oracles, 
that  the  Son  of  Mary  was  the  Messiah  promised  to  the  world, 
the  eternal  Son  of  the  Most  High.  In  what  they  relate  of 
his  doctrine,  they  are  still  historians.  It  is  always  Jesus  who 
speaks ;  and  these  quotations,  in  general  very  short,  are  evi- 
dently detached  fragments  of  much  longer  instructions. 

The  Epistles  of  the  Apostles,  addressed,  some  to  particular 
churches,  others  to  individuals,  are  evidently  designed  to  ad- 
just differences,  to  guard  the  faithful  against  rising  heresies, 
to  confirm  them  in  the  doctrine  received  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Apostles  or  from  ministers  ordained  by  them.  They  recall 
the  oral  teaching,  and  do  not  attribute  to  it  less  authority  than 
to  the  written  word.*  They  contain,  indeed,  magnificent  dog- 
matical developments,  but  always  relating  to  points  of  doctrine 
endangered  by  heresy.  They  nowhere  give  a  regular  and 
complete  summary  of  what  is  necessary  to  be  believed. 

The  moral  part  is  more  completely  carried  out ;  but  it  must 
be  surprising  to  a  Protestant,  that,  in  their  very  frequent  de- 
tails of  duties,  the  Apostles  constantly  omit  the  fundamental 
duty  of  reading  and  meditating  on  the  Bible,  the  obligation  so 
binding  on  fathers  and  mothers  to  put  into  the  hands  of  their 
children  this  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

The  Greek  language,  employed  by  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament,  f  was  at  that  time,  no  doubt,  very  generally 
diffused ;  but  it  was  not  the  language  of  the  people.  The 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  show  us,  among  the  first  hearers  of  the 
Gospel,  men  of  sixteen  nations  differing  in  language. J  To 

*  2  Thessal.  ii.  15. 

t  Excepting,  however,  St.  Matthew,  who,  according  to  the  testimony 
if  antiquity,  must  have  written  in  the  Hebrew  or  Syro-Chaldaic,  but 
whose  work  was  soon  translated  into  Greek. 

}  Act.  Ap.  ii.  9,  et  seq. 


36  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

make  the  first  Christians  assiduous  readers  of  Scripture,  it 
would  have  been  necessary  that  the  evangelical  authors  should 
have  used  the  gift  of  tongues  in  writing  as  well  as  in  preach- 
ing ;  or  at  least  should  have  confided  to  skilful  men  the  care 
of  translating  their  writings  into  an  endless  variety  of  idioms. 
Unfortunately,  history  seems  forward  to  show  that  the  versions 
of  the  New  Testament,  in  vulgar  and  barbarous  tongues, 
were  very  rare,  and  appeared  long  after  the  apostolic  times.* 
Hence,  nothing  is  more  probable  than  what  St.  Irenseus  says, 
of  a  multitude  of  barbarous  nations  of  his  time,  "  who,  de- 
prived of  the  Scriptures,  believed  in  Jesus  Christ,  preserving 
written,  not  on  paper,  but  in  their  hearts,  what  concerns 
salvation,  and  guarding  carefully  the  ancient  tradition."  •}• 

In  the  absence  of  translations  of  the  Bible  accessible  to  tho 
common  comprehension,  let  us  add  the  extreme  difficulty,  not 
to  say  impossibility,  of  multiplying  sufficiently  copies  of  the 
sacred  books,  to  render  the  reading  of  them  common.  I  will 
not  ask  how  every  individual,  but  how  every  Christian  village 
could  procure  a  Bible,  at  a  time  when  the  transcribing  of  a 
book  so  voluminous,  demanded  the  greater  part  of  a  man's 
life,  and  cost  enormous  sums  of  money ! 

According  to  the  Protestant  system,  the  art  of  printing 
would  have  been  much  more  necessary  to  the  Apostles  than 
the  gift  of  tongues.  It  was  well  for  Luther  that  he  did  not 
come  into  the  world  until  a  century  after  the  immortal  dis- 
covery of  Guttenberg.  A  hundred  years  earlier,  his  idea  of 
directing  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  men  to  read  the 
Bible  would  have  been  received  by  shouts  of  laughter,  and 
would  inevitably  have  caused  his  removal  from  the  pulpit  of 
Wittemberg  to  an  hospital  for  the  insane. 

*  The  first  translation,  the  existence  of  which  is  incontestable,  is 
the  Gothic  one  of  Ulphilas,  towards  the  middle  of  the  4th  century, 
t  Cont.  Hares.,  book  iii.  chap.  iv. 


SCRIPTURAL    PROOFS.  37 


CHAPTER    XI. 

WORTHLESSNESS    OF    PASSAGES    OF    SCRIPTURE    CITED    IN    SUP- 
PORT   OF    PKOTESTANT    PRINCIPLES. ITS    TRUE    ORIGIN. 

How  are  the  Protestants  to  destroy  the  unhappy  effect 
which  must  be  produced  on  every  judicious  mind  by  the  sil- 
ence of  Christ  concerning  the  obligation  to  read  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  the  negligence  of  the  Apostles  and  of  the  first 
evangelical  ministers  to  facilitate  this  reading  among  the 
faithful?  They  accumulate  biblical  passages,  thinking  that 
number  will  compensate  for  value. 

They  quote  at  first  those  words  of  Jesus  Christ :  "  Search 
the  Scriptures,  for  ye  think  ye  have  life  everlasting  in  them ; 
and  the  same  are  they  that  give  testimony  to  me."  *  Search 
the  Scriptures !  Is  not  this  a  formal  command  ?  Let  us  allow 
that  it  is  a  command.f  To  whom  was  it  addressed  ?  To  the 
Apostles,  to  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  Evidently  not ; 
but  to  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  to  the  Jews  and  enemies  of 
the  Savior. 

Search  the  Scriptures !  What  Scriptures  ?  The  New  Tes- 
tament, which  did  not  exist,  and  which,  had  it  existed,  could 
prove  nothing  against  men  who  were  contesting  the  divine 
mission  of  Jesus  ?  Certainly  not.  It  applied  only  to  the  Old 
Testament. 

Search  the  Scriptures,  for  ye  think  ye  have  life  everlasting 
in  them.  .  .  .  Do  not  these  words  contain  a  censure  of  the 
exaggerated  and  exclusive  confidence  which  the  doctors  of 

*  John  v.  39. 

t  Indeed  nothing  can  be  more  uncertain.     The  Greek  word  render- 
ed by  scrutamini,  stands  for  the  indicative  as  well  as  the  imperative, 
according  to  the  acknowledgment  of  interpreters,  and  many  of  them 
translate  it :   Ye  search,  SfC.  (See  the  Commentaries  on  this  passage.) 
VOL.    II.  4 


38  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  law  placed  in  their  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  in  which 
Protestants  imitate,  if  they  do  not  surpass  them  ?  And  can 
this  explanation  be  denied,  when  we  find  the  Saviour  adding 
immediately :  "  And  ye  will  not  come  to  Me,  that  ye  may 
have  life."  * 

What  is  in  dispute  between  Jesus  and  his  opposers,  and 
why  does  he  refer  them  to  the  testimony  of  Scripture  ?  Is  it 
for  them  to  find  a  certain  and  complete  knowledge  of  the 
divine  law?  Certainly  not;  but  it  concerns  them  to  know  if 
he  is  the  liberator  promised  by  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  and 
if  the  latter  confirm  his  mission,  which  has  already  been  au- 
thenticated by  various  miracles,  and  by  the  testimony  of  John 
the  Baptistf  Indeed,  there  must  be  a  strange  confusion  of 
mind  to  see  in  this  a  command  for  each  individual  to  hear  and 
read  the  Bible  according  to  his  own  manner. 

Let  us  imagine,  contrary  to  the  evidence  of  facts,  that  Jesus 
Christ  did  address  these  words  to  his  disciples ;  they  would 
still  prove  nothing  in  favor  of  the  Protestant  rule  of  faith. 
One  illustration  will  make  this  plain  to  the  least  intelligent. 
Let  a  sovereign  consulted  by  lawyers  or  others  concerning 
legal  questions  provided  for  by  the  code,  answer,  "  Search  the 
code ;  you  will  find  there  the  decision,"  would  he  intend  b}' 
that  to  say  :  "  I  intend  that  each  one  should  follow  only. these 
principles  in  matters  of  law  and  justice,  which  he  shall  adopt 
for  himself,  after  reading  the  code,  and  from  this  time  I  over- 
throw all  the  tribunals,  and  deprive  of  authority  the  magis- 
trates commissioned  for  the  interpretation  and  application 
of  the  laws!!!" 

But  two  of  the  apostles,  Paul  and  Silas,  arriving  at  Berea, 
find  that  the  Christians  of  that  city,  eager  for  the  word  of  the 
gospel,  read  the  Scriptures  every  day,  in  order  to  assure 
themselves  of  their  conformity  to  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles  ; 
and  the  latter,  far  from  being  offended  by  this  pretention,  re- 

*  John  v.  40.  t  Ibid.  33,  36,  45,  46. 


SCRIPTURAL    PROOFS.  39 

joice  at  it.*  This  is  the  right  of  free  examination  granted  to 
the  faithful ! 

Let  us  admit  the  fact,  except  the  two  circumstances  of  the 
approbation  of  the  apostles  and  of  the  Christianity  of  the 
Bereans.  On  reading  the  passage,  it  will  be  clearly  seen, 
1st,  that  neither  Paul,  nor  Silas,  nor  Luke,  who  reports  the 
fact,  approves  or  condemns  the  conduct  of  the  Bereans ;  2dly, 
that  the  latter  welcomed  with  interest  what  had  been  told 
them  of  the  Christian  religion ;  but  that  they  were  not  yet 
Christians.  The  proof  of  this  is  in  the  following  verse:  and 
many  among  them  believed.]  Then  what  could  be  the  object 
of  the  investigations  of  the  Bereans  ?  Did  they  attempt  to 
compare  all  the  points  of  apostolic  doctrine  with  the  text  of 
the  Gospels  which  were  not  yet  written,  or  with  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, where  this  doctrine  is  not  found,  at  least  explicitly  ? 
It  is  evident  that  this  examination  related  to  the  mission  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  realization  in  Him  of  the  promises  and 
oracles  of  the  ancient  law. 

Let  us  grant  to  Protestants  that  the  inhabitants  of  Berea 
were  true  Christians;  what  will  they  conclude  from  that? 
Could  those  who  acknowledge  the  inspiration  of  the  apostles 
and  their  doctrinal  infallibility,  be  satisfied  that  the  Bereans 
should  doubt  of  the  apostolic  word,  and  that  they  should 
flatter  themselves  that  they  understood  the  Bible  better  than 
their  masters  in  the  faith  ?  Would  they  pretend  that  Christ 
had  permitted  these  simple  believers  the  right  to  contradict 
those  to  whom  he  said :  Ye  are  the  Jight  of  the  world.  .  .  . 
Go,  teach.  .  .  .  He  who  hears  you,  hears  me,  &c. ! 

If  it  is  pretended  that  the  Bereans  only  read  the  Scriptures 
to  confirm  themselves  in  the  received  faith,  and  to  find  arms 
against  the  opposers  of  the  Gospel,  there  is  nothing  in  it  which 
establishes  the  right  of  free  inquiry,  and  which  the  Catholic 
Church  would  disapprove. 

*  Act.  Ap.  xvii.  11.  f  Act.  Ap.  v.  12. 


40  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Protestants  are  still  less  fortunate  in  the  passage  which  they 
very  frequently  and  very  incompletely  recite  from  the  3d 
Epistle  to  Timothy,  chap.  iii.  verses  14,  15,  16,  17.  1st,  The 
apostle  there  addresses,  not  the  faithful,  but  Timothy  ordained 
by  him  as  bishop,  and,  consequently,  obliged  to  study  the 
sacred  books;  and  what  did  he  say  to  him?  "But  continue 
thou  in  those  things  which  thou  hast  learned,  and  which  have 
been  committed  to  thee,  knowing  of  whom  thou  hast  learned 
them ;  and  because  from  thy  infancy  thou  hast  known  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  which  can  instruct  thee  to  salvation,  by  the 
faith  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ.  All  Scripture  inspired  by  God 
is  profitable  to  teach,"  &c.  Here  faith  in  the  oral  teaching 
of  the  apostles  is  evidently  placed  before  the  study  of  the 
Apostles,  and  recommended  as  necessary,  while  the  last  is 
commended  as  profitable.  These  Holy  Scriptures,  in  which 
Timothy  was  instructed  from  infancy,  are  not  certainly  the 
Gospels,  the  last  of  which  had  not  been  written,  and  the  first 
had  been  known  only  a  short  time.  Hence  these  words  of 
St.  Paul  are  very  far  from  the  Protestant  rule  of  faith. 

A  multitude  of  other  texts  are  afterwards  cited,  most  of 
them  from  the  Old  Testament,  which  were  only  praises  of  the 
law  of  the  Lord,  and  an  invitation  to  meditate  upon  it.  We 
shall  answer  these  things  in  detail  as  soon  as  Protestant  com- 
mentators have  demonstrated  that  they  must  be  understood  of 
the  evangelical  law  written,  read,  and  interpreted  by  each  indi- 
vidual. Until  they  have  done  so,  we  may  be  permitted  to  say 
to  our  dear  separated  brethren  :  Do  you  know  what  you  are 
doing,  by  saying  incessantly,  In  religion,  the  Bible,  nothing 
but  the  Bible?  You  pronounce  your  own  condemnation  ;  for 
this  principle,  the  only  one  upon  which  you  agree,  is  it  not  en- 
tirely unscriptural.  From  whence  have  you  received  it? 
Evidently  from  Dr.  Martin  Luther,  who,  seeing  the  Church 
universal  rise  and  menace  his  propositions,  saw  that  there 
was  but  one  alternative,  either  to  retract  his  theses  and  allow 


FIRST    DIFFICULTY.  41 

th.it  he  was  deceived,  or  arm  himself  with  a  Bible,  and  cry 
with  all  his  might,  as  he  did,  "I  have  the  Bible  for  myself; 
whoever  reads  the  Bible  may  laugh  at  the  Pope,  at  bishops, 
at  councils,  at  universities,  and  all  the  dunces  in  their  train." 


CHAPTER    XII  . 

DIFFICULTIES   OF  THE  PROTESTANT    PRINCIPLE  IN   PRACTICE  ; 

FIRST    DIFFICULTY  :    EVERY    PROTESTANT    MUST    MAKE 

A    BIBLE    FOU    HIMSELF. 

AFTER  having  resolved  the  question  of  fact,  let  us  examine 
the  question  of  right. 

Can  the  individual  study  of  the  Bible,  with  the  difficulties 
it  presents,  ever  guide  a  person  to  the  certain  knowledge  of 
the  doctrine  of  Christ  ? 

The  first  difficulty  which  presents  itself  to  the  advocate  of 
Bible-religion,  is  to  know  if  there  is  a  Bible,  and  the  difficulty 
certainly  is  not  a  small  one.  Archimedes,  who  only  required 
a  lever  and  fulcrum  to  raise  the  world,  finished  by  leaving  it 
in  its  place,  for  want  of  a  fulcrum  and  lever.  It  might  happen, 
also,  that  the  Lutheran  or  Calvinistic  youth,  who  only  needs 
a  Bible  to  rise  from  natural  to  revealed  religion,  would  remain 
all  his  life  in  the  former,  because  he  could  not  say  from  con- 
viction :  Here  is  indubitably  the  Bible ! 

How  can  the  Protestant  convince  himself  of  the  existence 
of  a  book  divinely  inspired,  if,  faithful  to  his  principles,  he 
isolates  himself  from  present  and  past  generations,  and,  casting 
on  them  a  look  of  defiance  and  contempt,  says:  Men  are  all 
subject  to  error  or  deceit;  in  religion  I  must  trust  only 
myself! 

Is  it  said  that  the  Holy  Spirit,  promised  to  all  the  faithful, 
4* 


42  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

reveals  to  men  of  sincerity  the  ineffable  beauties  of  Scripture, 
and  shows  them  that  this  book  differs  as  much  from  the  works 
of  man  as  honey  from  vinegar,  and  light  from  darkness  ?  The 
Protestant  ministers  have,  in  fact,  formerly  said  this,  but 
whether  from  respect  for  the  third  divine  person,  or  for  them- 
selves and  the  public,  I  believe  they  have  ceased  to  repeat  it. 
By  seeing  and  hearing  the  pretty  trifles  in  which  their  in- 
spired men  indulged  themselves,  they  have  learned  that  the 
gift  of  inspiration  would  only  people  Bicetre  and  Bedlam,  and 
they  have  wisely  abandoned  that  powerful  machine  to  the 
descendants  of  Muncer,  Fox,  Wesley,  and  Svvedenborg.* 

*  Thomas  Muncer  was  one  of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  Anabap- 
tists, those  elder  children  of  the  evangelical  liberty  preached  by  Luther, 
and  who  filled  with  ruin  and  blood  a  part  of  Germany.  George  Fox, 
an  English  shoemaker,  who  died  in  1600,  was  the  founder  of  the 
Quakers.  John  Wesley,  an  English  preacher,  founded  the  Methodist 
sect,  in  1729.  A  few  years  after,  the  Swedish  Swedenborg  introduced 
into  the  world  the  Swedenborgians,  or  JVew-Jerusalemites.  These  sects 
although  so  different  in  worship  and  faith,  have  yet  this  in  common, 
that  they  take  the  inspirations  of  the  spirit  of  God  for  the  rule  of  faith 
and  conduct.  Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  results  of  their  intimate  com- 
munication with  the  divinity.  The  Holy  Spirit  inspired  the  Anabap- 
tists to  put  to  death  the  wicked  and  only  preserve  the  good;  John  of 
Leydon  to  marry  eleven  wives  at  once,  and  then  put  them  to  death ; 
Hermann,  to  announce  himself  as  the  Messiah,  and  to  massacre  all  the 
priests  and  magistrates ;  David  Georges,  to  call  himself  the  true  Son 
of  God,  and  preach  a  doctrine  more  perfect  than  that  of  the  Bible; 
Nicolas,  a  disciple  of  Georges,  to  despise  all  faith,  and  to  remain  in  sin 
that  grace  might  abound;  Venner,  to  recognize  no  other  sovereign  on 
earth  than  Jesus  Christ ;  William  Simpson,  to  go  naked  for  three  years ; 
a  Quakeress,  to  present  herself  naked  in  the  public  service  at  White- 
hall ;  a  third,  to  enter  the  hall  of  the  English  Parliament  sword  in  hand, 
and  kill  all  those  whom  he  could  reach ;  in  short,  the  Holy  Spirit  in- 
formed Joanna  Southcote,  mother  of  the  Joannites,  not  long  since,  that 
she  was  to  give  birth  to  the  Messiah,  and  that  she  had  the  power  of 
delivering  passports  to  heaven  to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand ;  it  taught,  and  still  teaches,  Richard  Hill  and  other  fol- 
lowers of  Wesley,  that  adultery,  homicide  and  incest,  render  men  more 


FIRST    DIFFICULTY.  43 

The  neutrality  of  the  Hoty  Spirit  once  admitted  by  a  sin- 
cere  Protestant,  how  can  he  be  convinced  of  the  authenticity, 
veracity,  and  divinity  of  the  Scriptures,  except  by  long  and 
rigorous  investigations? 

The  uniform  and  constant  testimony  of  Christians  of  all 
ages,  it  is  said,  is  sufficient  to  prevent  doubt,  and  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  Bible  is  no  less  incontestable  than  that  of  the 
works  of  Virgil  and  Cicero. 

Uniform  and  constant  testimony!  but  can  the  Protestant 
admit  the  infallibility  of  this  testimony  before  having  per- 
sonally examined  its  value  ?  If  he  does  so,  he  recognizes 
the  existence  of  an  infallible  Christian  tradition,  serving  as  a 
basis  to  the  edifice  of  his  faith;  and,  after  having  received 
from  it  with  confidence  the  divine  book,  how  can  he,  without 
inconsistency,  refuse  to  take  it  on  trust  from  that  book,  and 
pretend  to  interpret  it  better  for  himself? 

If,  on  the  contrary,  consistent  with  his  principles,  he  sees 
in  Christians  of  present  and  past  times  only  men  subject  to 
the  grossest  errors,  most  of  them  accomplices  of  the  long- 
continued  abominations  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  suspected 
witnesses,  who  have  no  other  claim  upon  his  belief  than  their 
incapacity  to  deceive  him,  he  cannot  excuse  himself  from 
verifying  for  himself  the  uniformity  and  consistency  of  their 
testimony  through  all  ages;  he  must  prove  to  himself  the 
worthlessness  of  the  opposing  testimony  of  the  earlier  inno- 
vators, who  rejected,  as  a  whole*,  or  in  part,  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  and  introduced  apocryphal  Gospels.  Moreover, 
as  it  is  evident  that  the  Bible  is  not  a  compact  and  homo- 
geneous whole,  but  that  it  contains  more  than  sixty  distinct 

holy  on  earth,  and  more  happy  in  heaven ;  that  the  liberty  which  the 
Redeemer  has  acquired  for  us  at  the  price  of  his  blood,  consists  in  boldly 
transgressing  the  commandments  of  God,&c.  (See  Le  Guide  du  Catt- 
chumenc  Vaudois,  liv.  iv.  3d  entret,  torn.  ii.  p.  92,  &c.  Milnei 
Excellence  of  the  Catholic  Religion,  vol.  i.  p.  38,  &c.) 


44  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

works,  coming  from  the  pen  of  nearly  forty  authors,  distant 
from  each  other;  as  it  is  certain  that  there  is  not,  in  this  col- 
lection, a  single  book,  a  single  chapter  or  a  verse,  whose  au- 
thenticity has  not  been,  and  may  not  be  denied  or  called  in 
question,  by  some  of  the  learned  biblists  of  the  Reformation, 
the  commentator  must  necessarily  carry  the  torch  of  criticism 
through  each  of  the  thirteen  hundred  chapters  and  the  thirty- 
four  thousand  verses  of  the  Bible.  He  must  then  take  up  his 
abode  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  at  least,  in  our  libraries ; 
for,  if  he  is  permitted  the  privilege  of  availing  himself  of  the 
labor  of  scholars  on  this  subject,  it  is  indispensable  that  he 
should  read  attentively  all  that  has  been  hitherto  written  for 
and  against  the  authenticity  and  integrity  of  the  Sacred  Books. 

It  is  evident  that  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  obtain  for  onesself 
in  religion  the  reputation  of  distinguished  learning.  We  have 
as  yet  only  mentioned  the  two  least  difficult  questions,  those 
of  authenticity  and  veracity.  That  a  book  is  by  such  an  au- 
thor, of  such  a  time ;  that  it  is  generally  faithful  in  its  state- 
ment of  facts,  are  things  easily  established  by  testimony. 
But,  how  can  the  interior,  impalpable  fact  of  inspiration  be 
verified  ?  No  one  can  prove  it  but  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  the 
inspired  person  himself.  As  no  one  among  Protestants,  ex- 
empt from  fanaticism,  relies  on  the  immediate  and  personal 
revelation  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  there  remains  the  testimony 
of  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament ;  but  what  testimony  ? 
If  it  is  their  written  word,  let  them  show  us  the  passage  in 
which  the  inspiration  of  every  part  of  the  New  Testament  is 
clearly  affirmed.  If  this  passage  existed,  and  it  does  not, 
would  it  be  any  advantage  ? 

"  How  can  the  Scriptures,"  asked  an  able  controversialist, 
"  prove  their  own  inspiration  ?  All  their  doctrinal  authority 
depends  on  their  inspiration.  You  must  show  that  they  are 
inspired,  before  you  have  a  right  to  deduce  from  their  testi- 
mony any  point  of  doctrine  whatever.  If  wishing  to  demon- 


SECOND    DIFFICULTY.  45 

strate  the  inspiration  of  a  book,  you  begin  by  assuming  it, 
you  fall  into  a  begging  of  the  question,"  &c.* 

If  the  oral  testimony  of  the  apostles,  received  and  trans- 
mitted by  the  Christian  community,  is  appealed  to,  then  tra- 
dition comes  up  again  with  its  claim  of  infallibility. 

But  we  must  stop.  It  is  evident,  that,  before  creating  for 
himself  a  religion  by  the  aid  of  the  Bible,  the  Protestant  must 
create  for  himself  the  Bible  by  the  aid  of  reason.  But  this  is 
a  colossal  undertaking,  calculated  to  terrify  the  strongest 
spirit. 

How  can  we  at  once  close  the  mouth  of  the  defender  of 
Bible  religion  ?  It  is  sufficient  to  ask  him  this  question :  You 
are  constantly  quoting  the  Bible,  but  how  do  you  know  that 
there  is  a  Bible  ? 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

SECOND  DIFFICULTY  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  PRINCIPLE. — EVERY 
PROTESTANT    MUST   READ    THE    BIBLE    IN    THE    ORIGINAL. 

LET  us  imagine  that,  by  long  and  conscientious  researches, 
our  Protestant  has  arrived  at  the  conviction  that  the  Bible  is 
a  divine  book,  all  the  words  of  which  have  come  from  heaven. 
This  is,  without  doubt,  a  great  step ;  but  more  is  to  be  done 
in  order  to  arrive  at  a  certain  and  complete  knowledge  of  the 
divine  doctrine ! 

He  would  shock  reason,  as  well  as  the  universal  conscience 
of  Christians,  who  should  imagine  that,  to  reign  with  Christ 
in  heaven,  it  is  sufficient  to  put  the  Bible  under  one's  arm  and 
say:  "  I  consider  everything  in  this  book  as  unquestionable." 

*  Wiseman,  Conferences  on  the  most  important  Doctrines  and 
Practices  of  the  Catholic  Church,  vol.  i.  p.  132,  &c. 


40  THE    SOLUTIOX   OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

What  would  then  become  of  the  important  precept  to  read 
the  Bible  ?  If  God  himself  condescends  to  dictate  a  book  so 
voluminous,  it  must  necessarily  be  acknowledged  that  he  has 
great  and  precious  truths  to  communicate  to  men.  What 
other  design  could  be  attributed  to  him  than  that  of  rectifying 
and  enlarging  our  thoughts,  of  purifying  and  ennobling  our 
affections,  and  of  harmonizing  both  with  the  divine  intention 
and  will  ? 

The  Bible,  no  doubt,  contains  truths  and  precepts  more  or 
less  indispensable,  but  all  infinitely  useful  and  adapted  to  our 
wants.  "  I  am  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  teaches  thee  profitable 
things ;"  such  is  the  idea  which  naturally  presents  itself  at 
sight  of  a  Bible,  even  before  having  read  these  words.* 

But  can  we  penetrate  into  the  unfathomable  abyss  of  the 
divine  mind?f  What  thread  can  we  seize  to  direct  us  in  the 
study  of  the  infinite. 

The  first  and  most  indispensable  thing  to  a  Protestant,  for 
whom  there  is  no  sufficient  guarantee  of  the  fidelity  of  the 
translations  of  the  Bible  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  is  the  know- 
ledge of  the  original  texts ;  that  is,  of  Greek  and  Hebrew. 

It  may  be  said :  There  are  translations  whose  fidelity  is 
universally  recognized,  and  in  this  respect  every  one  can  de- 
pend on  public  opinion,  especially  on  that  of  scholars.  But 
here  the  infallibility  denied  to  the  universal  Church  is  accorded 
freely  to  a  translator,  or  at  least  to  the  public,  a  collection  of 
ignorant  and  foolish  men,  whom  the  Popes  have  lead  on  from 
one  abomination  to  another,  and  from  idolatry  to  idolatry ! 

There  are  translations  whose  fidelity  .  .  .  which  I  would 
ask  ?  the  one  which  Luther  made  in  German  from  the  Hebrew  ? 
a  version  considered  very  imperfect,  even  by  many  of  his 
friends,  who  were  not  entirely  satisfied  with  his  skill  in 
Hebrew ;  a  version  which  Zwingle  accused  of  corrupting  the 

*  Isai.  xlviii.  17. 

t  Judicia  tua  abyssus  multa.  (Ps.  xxxv.  7.) 


SECOND    DIFFICULTY.  47 

word  of  God ;  a  version  in  which  the  brothers  Valembourg 
have  detected  many  essential  alterations,  and  Emser  has  dis- 
covered 1400  errors ;  a  version  now  esteemed  so  obscure  and 
imperfect,  that  the  Lutheran  consistories  of  Germany  de- 
manded a  complete  revision  of  it.* 

Besides,  what  reliance  does  the  work  of  a  rash  man  merit, 
who  struck  off  from  the  canon  of  the  Scriptures  any  book 
which  displeased  him,  and  who,  when  convicted  of  perverting 
a  text  of  St.  Paul,  answered :  "  I  know  that  this  word  only  is 
not  found  in  the  text  of  St.  Paul;  but  if  any  one  presses  you 
upon  this  subject,  say  to  him,  Dr.  Martin  Luther  has  chosen 
that  it  should  be  so,  and  he  says  that  a  Papist  and  an  ass  are 
the  same  thing.  ...  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  not  added  other 
words.  On  this  account,  the  word  only  shall  remain  in  my 
New  Testament,  even  if  the  Papists  lose  their  spiteful  spirit 
concerning  it."  f 

Does  any  one  speak  of  the  translations  made  by  the  other 
leaders  of  the  Reformation,  such  as  Calvin,  Zwingle,  GEco- 
lampadus,  Beza,  Leon  de  Juda,  &c.,  productions  all  more  or 
less  denied  as  soon  as  they  appeared,  and  twenty  times  re- 
modelled and  revised,  without  being  able  to  conciliate  the 
general  confidence. 

If  we  appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  learned,  where  is  the 
tribunal  whose  sentences  are  apparently  guaranteed  from 
error?  If  judges  are  needed  to  decide  on  religious  questions, 
why  reject  those  scholars  and  pontiffs,  who,  in  the  character 
of  ambassadors  of  Christ,  unite  the  authority  of  genius, 
science,  and  sanctity? 

By  learned  men  is  doubtless  meant  our  skilful  Orientalists, 
Hebraists,  and  Hellenists,  who  have  made  a  profound  study 
of  the  primitive  texts — find  one  who  is  satisfied  with  the  ex- 

*  See  Audin,  Vie  de  Luther,  ch.  18. 

t  Opp.  Luth.  vol.  iii.  p.  141,  144.  Edit.  Jen. 


48  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

isting  biblical  versions,  and  who  is  not  planning  a  new  one 
which  is  to  throw  them  all  into  the  shade. 

The  only  method,  then,  by  which  a  Protestant  can  approach 
with  confidence  the  interpretation  of  the  sacred  text,  is,  that 
he  endeavors  himself  to  become  a  profound  linguist  —  a 
Gesenius  or  a  Sylvester  de  Sacy.  Since  he  has  already  ac- 
quired a  taste  for  study,  by  taking  up  his  abode  in  libraries 
for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years,  why  should  he  refuse  to  sit  on 
the  benches  of  a  school,  to  learn  Hebrew,  Arabic,  Greek,  and 
the  thousand  trifles  indispensable  to  an  accomplished  com- 
mentator !  He  must  make  haste,  however ;  for,  after  so  much 
study,  he  might  indeed  be 

De  moyen  age  * 
Et  tirant  sur  le  grison. 

Yet  he  is  still  a  Christian  only  in  desire,  or  potentially. 
Wo  to  him  if  death  arrives  before  he  has  known  and  done 
what  must  be  known  and  done  to  become  really  a  Christian ! 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

THIRD   DIFFICULTY  :    EVERY   PROTESTANT  IS  BOUND   TO  READ 
AND    EXAMINE    THE    BIBLE    IN   ALL    ITS    PARTS. 

OUR  neophyte  is  now  provided  with  Greek  and  Hebrew,  and 
furnished  with  all  the  instruments  necessary  to  construct  his 
edifice  of  Christianity  from  materials  wholly  biblical — where 
will  he  commence  ?  By  the  attentive  reading  of  the  whole 
Bible,  from  the  first  verse  of  Genesis  to  the  last  of  the  Apo- 
calypse. There,  indeed,  are  to  be  found,  though  scattered  and 
in  a  chaotic  state,  the  numerous  elements  of  Christianity. 

*  Of  middle  age 
And  bordering  on  gray  hairs. 


THIRD    DIFFICULTY.  49 

The  sacred  writers,  as  we  have  before  observed,  nowhere  offer 
a  synopsis,  or  regular  and  complete  summary  of  what  a  Chris- 
tian should  believe  and  practice  to  secure  his  claim  to  the 
heavenly  kingdom. 

The  Protestant,  moreover,  has  not  by  his  side,  as  the 
Catholic,  an  infallible  guide,  who  points  out  to  him  the  parts 
of  Scripture  which  it  is  important  for  him  to  know,  and  those 
the  ignorance  of  which  is  not  an  obstacle  to  salvation. 

Can  the  symbolic  books,  the  confessions  of  faith,  and  the 
catechisms  which  the  Protestant  finds  in  his  sect,  furnish  him 
any  assistance  ?  Certainly  not.  What  are  they,  according 
to  the  judgment  of  all  enlightened  Protestants  ?  Poor,  con- 
temptible, wretched  imitations  of  Papacy ;  formal  abjurations 
of  the  fundamental  principle  of  liberty  of  examination ;  or 
official  protestations  of  Protestant  churches  against  Pro- 
testantism. 

Can  the  true  Protestant  have  recourse  to  the  ministry  of 
the  pastors  of  his  sect?  But,  pray,  who  are  these  pastors? 
who  has  sent  them  ?  who  has  charged  them  to  feed  the  flock 
of  Christ  ?  what  spiritual  nourishment  can  they  offer  to  their 
pretended  sheep,  who  can  agree  on  nothing,  and  who  wish 
that  the  faith  might  never  again  be  spoken  of,  in  any  way,* 
and  who  evidently  could  not  establish  among  themselves 
a  common  formulary  of  faith,  without  signing  the  sentence 
of  death  upon  Protestantism  ? 

Let  them  assume  the  pompous  title  ministers  and  teachers 
of  the  holy  Gospel,  or  the  more  modest,  but  less  biblical  one, 
of  ministers  skilled  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  f — what 

*  Words  of  the  pastor  Burnier,  in  his  report  to  the  assembly  of 
Lausanne,  1838,  on  the  state  of  the  reformed  churches  of  France.  (See 
Guide  du  Catechumene  Vaudois,  torn.  i.  p.  221.) 

t  In  the  work  quoted  above,  vol.  iii.  p.  585,  et  seq.,  may  be  found 
some  excellent  remarks  on  the  denomination  skilful  ministers,  recently 
invented  by  a  Genevese  preacher,  M.  Fillet  Johy. 

VOL.    II.  5 


50  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


are  they  in  Protestant  churches?  Bible  carriers,  readers  for 
wages  of  the  divine  book,  and  who,  the  reading  finished,  must 
close  their  lips,  under  pain  of  hearing  even  their  wives  and 
children  exclaim :  Be  silent !  who  has  given  you  the  right  to 
explain  the  Scriptures  to  us  ?  It  would  be  truly  singular  to 
see  these  persons  exalt  themselves  into  oracles,  and  substitute 
their  ideas  of  a  day  for  the  teachings  of  a  church  accredited 
by  eighteen  centuries  of  existence,  and  by  the  submission  of 
eight  or  ten  thousand  millions  of  Christians ! 

If  the  generality  of  men  have  need  of  skilful  interpreters  to 
enable  them  to  understand  the  Scriptures,  is  it  not  plain  that 
Jesus  Christ  must  have  established  them,  and  that  Catholicism 
must  then  come  in,  by  full  right,  with  its  bishops  and  its 
priests  ?  But  let  us  return  to  our  catechumen. 

See  him  alone  with  his  Bible,  condemned  to  read  it  from 
one  end  to  the  other,  to  read  it  again,  to  meditate  upon  it, 
and  compare  it  with  itself  as  often  as  may  be  necessary  to 
prevent  any  of  the  thirty-four  thousand  verses  from  escaping 
his  examination  :  if  he  omits  one,  who  could  guarantee  to  him 
that  the  key  of  the  true  Christian  system  was  not  to  be  found 
in  that  ? 

A  judge  in  the  first  and  last  appeal  of  the  most  important 
and  complicated  causes,  a  frightful  responsibility  rests  upon 
him.  How  can  he  feel  any  assurance  of  the  equity  of  his 
decision,  if  a  conscientious  study  of  the  various  parts  of  the 
vast  process  does  not  bring  them  all  before  his  mind,  does  not 
enable  him  to  appreciate  them  all  at  their  just  value,  before 
he  pronounces  the  sentence  which  will  bring  him  to  the  happy 
abode  prepared  from  the  beginning  for  those  who  have  known 
and  accomplished  the  will  of  their  Heavenly  Father,  or  take 
him  down  to  the  eternal  abyss  destined  for  those  who  have 
broken  the  divine  law! 

Will  our  separated  brethren  allow  me  to  ask  them  this 
question :  Who  among  you  can  pretend  to  have  read  with 


FOURTH    DIFFICULTY.  51 

attention — I  will  not  say  examined — the  whole  Bible  ?  You 
believe  you  are  Christians,  because  you  have  glanced  at  some 
of  its  books ;  but,  how  do  you  know  that  so  many  pages, 
which  are  unknown  to  you,  may  contain  nothing  essential  to 
Christianity  ? 


CHAPTER    XV. 

FOURTH    DIFFICULTY  :    EVERY    PROTESTANT    MUST    ASSURE 
HIMSELF   THAT    HE    HAS   READ    THE    WHOLE    BIBLE. 

IT  is  not  enough  to  say,  I  have  read  all  the  Bible;  we  must 
be  able  to  add,  I  am  certain  of  having  comprehended  it  suffi- 
ciently well.  Is  this  an  easy  or  common  thing  ?  What  does 
Luther  say  on  this  subject? 

"  How  great  and  difficult  a  thing  is  it  to  understand  the 
Scriptures !  Twenty  years'  labor  are  required  to  understand 
the  Georgics  of  Virgil;  twenty  years  passed  in  the  manage- 
ment of  affairs  to  have  a  clear  comprehension  of  the  Epistles 
of  Cicero ;  a  hundred  years  with  the  prophets  Elias,  Elijah, 
John  the  Baptist,  Christ,  and  his  apostles,  to  have  a  glimpse 
into  the  Scriptures."  * 

Can  you,  advocates  of  Bible  religion,  accuse  me  of  extra- 
vagance when  I  demonstrated  to  you  before,  the  obligation 
you  were  under  to  bury  yourself  thirty  or  forty  years  in  the 
dust  of  libraries  and  universities,  when  the  father  of  the  Re- 
formation condemns  you  to  frequent,  for  a  hundred  years,  the 
schools  of  masters  not  now  to  be  found,  in  order  to  obtain  a 
glimpse  into  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  ! 

*  Audin,  Vie  de  Luther,  torn.  ii.  p.  520.  Colloq.  mens.  fol.  4,  290. 
M.  Michelet  repeats  the  same  words,  with  some  variation,  as  written 
by  Luther,  at  Eisleben,  two  da)  5  before  his  death.  (See  Memoires  de 
Luther,  liv.  v.  ch.  7.) 


52  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

I  acknowledge  that  this  may  be  some  of  the  table-talk 
which  poured  from  the  lips  of  the  evangelist,  whenever  the 
fumes  of  beer  or  of  wine  made  the  torch  of  the  apostolic 
spirit  flicker  in  his  brain ;  yet,  it  is  evident  to  all  who  have 
read  the  Scriptures,  that  nothing  is  more  difficult  than  their 
interpretation. 

I  will  not  quote  the  words  of  the  holy  writers,  nor  those  of 
the  fathers  of  the  Church,  who  have  made  the  most  progress 
in  the  study  of  sacred  literature.  All  agree  concerning  the 
mysterious  and  incalculable  depth  of  the  holy  books ;  all  unite 
in  saying  that  the  hand  of  man  will  reach  the  stars  suspended 
in  the  vault  of  heaven,  before  his  mind  can  enter  into  the 
depths  of  the  divine  word. 

I  will  say  nothing  of  the  high  antiquity  of -the  Scriptures; 
nothing  of  the  vast  variety  of  their  subjects ;  nothing  of  the 
great  distance  between  their  authors,  not  so  much  on  account 
of  the  years  which  separate  us  from  them,  as  their  customs, 
turn  of  mind,  extremely  figurative  style,  and  the  genius  of  their 
language ;  nothing  of  the  immensity  of  the  subject  which  they 
embrace — God,  man,  the  universe ;  which  considerations  would 
be  sufficient  to  manifest,  however  little,  yet  enough  to  enable 
the  blind  to  see  that  the  Bible  is  and  must  be  the  most  diffi- 
cult book  to  understand,  and  that  the  comprehension  of  the 
Roman  laws,  so  laborious  even  to  our  most  skilful  jurists,  is 
play  in  comparison  to  the  interpretation  of  it. 

I  will  oppose  only  two  incontrovertible  facts  to  the  innu- 
merable quotations  with  which  we  are  deafened,  to  prove  to 
us  the  assumed  clearness  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  facility 
with  which  they  reveal  themselves  to  those  who  are  right- 
minded  and  desirous  of  the  truth.  One  of  these  has  been 
evident  to  all  ages  for  three  centuries,  and  the  other  is  biblical. 

1st  Since  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation,  there  is 
ao  text  of  Scripture  upon  the  meaning  of  which  the  generality 
of  Protestants  have  been  able  constantly  to  agree.  It  is  cer- 


FOURTH    DIFFICULTY.  53 

tain,  then,  that  there  is  no  passage  which  the  generality  of 
Protestants  have  understood  in  its  true  sense.  It  is  a  mani- 
fest proof  that  all,  or  almost  all,  misunderstand  the  Bible, 
since  all  explain  it  differently.  They  must,  then,  agree  on 
one  of  these  two  things, — either  that  the  Bible  is  very  obscure, 
or  that  they  themselves  are  not  very  clear-sighted. 

2dly.  In  rectitude  of  mind,  sanctity  of  life,  and  desire  to 
know  the  truth;  in  one  word,  as  to  everything  which  consti- 
tutes intellectual  and  moral  aptitude  to  comprehend  the  divine 
word,  the  Apostles  were,  without  doubt,  as  gifted  as  most  of 
the  reformers.  Who  of  the  latter  could  say  to  Jesus  Christ: 
Behold,  we  have  left  all  things,  and  followed  thee.* 

The  Apostles  had,  still  more,  the  immense  advantage  of 
seeing  the  divine  Master,  of  hearing  the  language  in  which  he 
preached,  of  interrogating  him  at  will,  to  receive  from  his  sacred 
lips  the  divine,  animated,  and  living  word.  Yet,  according  to 
their  avowal,  they  comprehended  nothing  even  of  what  he  told 
them  most  clearly;  it  was  hid  from  them;]-  and  after  his  re- 
surrection, he  was  obliged  to  give  them  that  understanding  of 
the  Scriptures  that  they  had  been  unable  to  acquire  by  three 
years  of  assiduous  attention  to  his  teachings.^ 

Now  that  every  Protestant  flatters  himself  that  he  compre- 
hends the  word,  and  the  whole  word  of  Jesus  Christ,  no 
longer  spoken,  animated,  and  explained,  by  the  gesture,  look, 
and  accent  of  him  who  uttered  it ;  but  dead,  buried  in  a  strange 
tongue,  and  become  the  subject  of  interminable  discussions 

*  Matth.  xix.  27. 

*  f  Etipsi  nihil  horum  intellexerunt,  eteratverbumistud  absconditum 
ab  eis.  (Luke  xviii.  34.)  And  of  what  had  he  spoken  to  them  .'  of  his 
consubstantiality  with  the  Father  ?  No,  but  of  his  passion,  of  his  re- 
surrection, and  in  terms  the  most  intelligible.  (Ib.  32,  33.) 

I  Tune  aperuit  illis  senswn  ut  inteU\gerent  Scripluras.  (Ib.  24, 
45.)  It  is  evident  from  the  following  verses  that  he  referred  only  to 
the  sense  of  the  prophecies  relative  to  his  death  and  resurrection. 

5* 


54  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

among  the  most  learned  interpreters,  how  can  such  a  preten- 
tion  be  designated,  how  can  the  religious  system  be  designated 
which  establishes  it  as  a  principle ! 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CAN   THE    PROTESTANT    PRINCIPLE    PRODUCE    CHRISTIANS? 

IN  order  to  answer  this  question,  it  will  only  be  necessary 
to  repeat,  in  a  few  words,  what  we  have  before  demonstrated. 

No  Protestant,  faithful  to  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
Reformation,  can  pretend  to  be  a  Christian  before  he  has 
acquired,  by  his  individual  efforts,  a  firm  conviction  on  five 
points. 

1st.  That  the  Bible  is  a  divine  book,  and  that  it  comes  into 
his  hands  free  from  every  important  error  which  could  have 
crept  into  it,  through  the  evil  intention  or  malice  of  its  trans- 
lators, copyists,  or  printers. 

2d.  That  the  Bible  contains  all  that  is  necessary  for  faith 
and  practice. 

3d.  That  for  the  understanding  of  this  book,  it  is  the  ex- 
press command  of  Jesus  Christ  that  every  one  should  rely  on 
his  own  judgment. 

4th.  That  he  has  meditated  and  compared  the  thirty  thou- 
sand and  more  verses  of  the  Bible  sufficiently  to  have  pos- 
sessed himself  of  their  meaning. 

5th.  That  he  has  omitted,  in  his  profession  of  faith,  no 
essential  article  of  doctrine ;  that  his  system  of  morality  in- 
cludes all  the  precepts  of  rigorous  obligation ;  that  he  under- 
stands all  the  sacraments,  the  dispositions  they  demand,  the 
ministry  clothed  with  the  power  to  dispense  them ;  and  that, 
in  a  word,  he  knows  the  essential  rites  of  worship. 


PROTESTANT    PRINCIPLE.  55 

And  let  us  observe,  that  upon  all  these  subjects  pur  Bible 
Christian  must  have,  not  fluctuating  opinions,  nor  any  mode 
of  thinking  whatever,  but  an  immoveable  and  assured  belief, 
which  will  never  abandon  him,  neither  in  presence  of  the 
opposing  convictions  of  his  rivals  in  biblical  interpretation,  nor 
before  the  funeral  piles  kindled  by  his  persecutors. 

I  would  now  ask  any  conscientious  man  who  has  an  idea 
of  the  vast  range  of  biblical  studies,  if  there  is  a  mind  in  the 
world  so  comprehensive  and  bold  as  to  undertake  the  solution 
of  these  five  postulates,  and  if  there  is,  in  the  nature  of  these 
questions,  evidence  enough  to  found  a  conviction  unassailable 
by  doubt,  when  the  ear  is  closed  to  the  imposing  voice  of 
tradition. 

The  most  laborious  life,  and  an  intellect  versed  in  all  science, 
would  not  be  adequate  to  such  an  undertaking ;  and  yet  this 
is  the  task  imposed  upon  the  humble  artisan,  the  wretched 
day- laborer,  and  the  poor  mother  of  a  family! 

These  good  people  will  be  compelled,  by  the  aid  of  some 
fragments  of  Scripture,  read  to  them  by  a  minister  on  Sunday, 
and  by  the  help  of  their  own  reason,  which  is  confined  within 
the  narrow  circle  of  a  small  household,  with  the  assistance  of 
that  Spirit  of  God,  which  is  so  sparing  in  its  communications, 
that  it  has  failed  Catholics  for  many  centuries,  and  which 
never  has  made  its  actual  appearance  among  the  innumerable 
sects  springing  out  of  the  Reformation,  all  armed  with  ana- 
themas against  each  other — these  good  people  will  be  com- 
pelled, I  repeat,  to  project  from  their  brain  a  complete 
religion ! 

They  will  be  obliged  to  reconstruct  the  magnificent  edifice 
of  Christianity,  which  the  most  gifted  genius  cannot  flatter 
himself  he  has  beheld  in  its  completeness. 

They  must  comprehend  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ  better 
than  the  Apostles,  after  three  years  passed  in  the  school  of 
the  Savior! 


56  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

They  must  have  a  fixed  and  enlightened  belief  in  regard  to 
those  very  questions  which  have  become  the  subject  of  inter- 
minable discussion  among  their  most  learned  fellow-believers! 

They  must,  above  all  things,  avoid  the  abominable  errors 
from  which  a  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  their  Catholic 
cotemporaries,  and  seven  or  eight  hundred  millions  of  their 
predecessors,  have  not  been  able  to  protect  themselves. 

Among  all  the  absurdities  put  in  circulation  since  the  origin 
of  the  world,  we  should  in  vain  seek  for  ono  that  would  ex- 
ceed this! 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

WHAT  MEN   DOES  THE   PROTESTANT   PRINCIPLE   FORM?    WHAT 
WOULD    A    CHRISTIAN    BE    ACCORDING    TO    ITS    METHOD  ? 

IT  is  now  very  evident  that  no  one  can  call  himself  a 
Christian  in  virtue  of  Protestantism.  Every  advocate  of  this 
system,  if  he  would  be  consistent,  will  arrive  by  a  longer  or 
shorter  way  at  deism,  naturalism,  indifferentism,  or  contempt 
of  all  revealed  religion ;  at  Christianity  never. 

Even  if  facts  did  not  present  themselves,  with  their  irre- 
sistible authority ;  if  the  organs  of  the  Protestant  press  did 
not  agree  in  announcing  the  death  of  the  reformed  Chris- 
tianity, and  the  impossibility  of  protecting  any  longer  this 
lifeless  body  from  the  worms  that  are  rapidly  devouring  it,* 

*  All  these  churches  (the  Protestant  Churches  of  Germany,  Switzer- 
land, and  France,)  with  few,  I  believe  almost  no  exception,  are  cor- 
rupted in  what  constitutes  the  essence  of  Christianity.  The  gnawing 
worms  of  Socinianism  and  infidelity  have,  in  their  devouring  activity, 
penetrated  every  part  of  the  body,  substance  and  even  heart  of  these 
alien  churches."  (Dublin  Review,  quoted  by  rUnioersile'  Calholique, 
April,  1838.)  As  to  the  Anglican  Church,  the  British  Revieic,  Au- 


INFLUENCE    OF    THE    PROTESTANT    PRINCIPLE.    57 

could  the  truth  appear  doubtful  to  any  one  who  has  the 
power  of  detecting  in  a  principle,  the  consequences  which  it 
involves  ? 

Let  any  one  reject  with  contempt,  as  the  reformers  have 
done,  all  historical  and  traditional  data  in  matters  of  faith ; 
separate  Christianity  from  the  old  and  strong  foundations 
upon  which  it  rested  when  Luther  arose ;  shut  it  up  within 
the  covers  of  the  Bible,  and  allow  the  first  simpleton  who  may 
present  himself  *  the  right  to  draw  it  from  thence ;  in  short, 
change  the  Christian  Church  into  a  true  Pandemonium,  where 
all  dreams,  all  half  truths,  and  all  errors,  can  disport  themselves 
at  ease,  and  celebrate  their  Sabbath.^  Let  us,  after  this,  find 
any  judicious  mind  which  can  consent  to  see  in  this  new  con- 
fusion of  tongues  the  work  of  him  who  is  seated  in  the  height 
of  heaven. 

Wherever  men  proclaim,  in  religion,  the  Bible,  nothing  but 
the  Bible !  they  will  soon  boldly  write,  in  face  of  the  public : 
The  Bible  is  nothing !  the  Bible  is  a  collection  of  miserable 
rhapsodies,  of  fabulous  recitals ;  the  New  Testament  contains 
the  history  and  the  doctrine  of  an  imaginary  being.%  The 
Bible  has  had  its  day.  .  .  .  The  Koran,  in  some  respects,  is 
nearer  the  truth  than  the  Old  and  New  Testament.^ 

These  are  the  men  whom  Protestantism  produces  whenever 

gust  1838,  terms  it  a  mummy,  a  solemn  corpse  which  can  no  longer 
walk,  nor  breathe,  nor  live.  A  multitude  of  avowals  of  this  kind  are 
to  be  found  in  Protestant  Europe,  the  Archives  of  Christianity,  le 
JVuuvelliste  Vaudois,  and  other  Protestant  publications. 

*  This  is  the  expression  of  Luther,  in  his  Letter  to  the  Christians 
of  Antwerp :  "  There  are  almost  as  many  creeds  as  heads.  There  is 
no  simpleton  who,  if  he  happens  to  have  a  dream,  does  not  believe 
himself  visited  by  God,  or  become  a  prophet." 

t  Archives  of  Christianity,  Jan.  12th,  1839. 

f  Strauss,  Life  of  Jesus. 

§  Lcttre  a  la  venerable  Compagnie  des  Pasteurs,  Sfc.  by  1'ex-pas- 
teur  Rojour,  p.  17,  10,  26. 


68  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

it  is  permitted  to  take  its  course.  This  low  class  will  number 
many  scholars,  many  prophets  In  jackets  and  in  petticoats; 
and,  above  them  all,  many  scoffers  and  indifferent  persons. 

Is  the  radical  incapacity  of  such  a  system  to  form  Chris- 
tians, after  all,  an  evil  ?  What  would  a  Christian  after  this 
sort  be  ?  He  would  be  an  individual,  who,  devoid  of  all 
moral  and  religious  principle  which  was  not  of  his  own  crea- 
tion, would  commence  his  religious  education  by  suspecting 
of  imposture  his  parents,  his  friends,  his  ancestors,  and  the 
human  race  in  general ;  and  who,  after  longer  or  shorter  pre- 
paration, would  say  with  Luther :  "  Strong  in  my  knowledge, 
there  is  neither  emperor,  nor  king,  nor  devil,  to  whom  I  would 
yield ;  no,  not  even  to  the  whole  universe."  *  I  do  not  ima- 
gine there  is  a  father,  a  mother,  a  man,  a  woman,  a  master, 
or  a  monarch,  so  ill  advised  as  to  wish  for  such  a  son,  daugh- 
ter, wife,  husband,  servant  or  subject 

But  I  must  add,  this  monster  of  impertinence,  folly,  and 
pride,  does  not  and  cannot  exist. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

APPLICATION    OF    THE    PROTESTANT    PRINCIPLE    TO    THE 

CONVERSION    OF   INFIDELS. CIRCULATION    OF    THE 

BIBLE. ITS   RESULTS. 

IF  the  Bible  alone  cannot  form  Christians  in  Europe,  where 
every  one  imbibes  Christianity  with  his  mother's  milk,  and 
breathes  it  in  with  the  air,  will  it  meet  with  more  success  in 
India,  China,  or  Japan,  in  the  Archipelagos  of  Oceanica,  in 
the  forests  of  America,  in  the  midst  of  people,  some  proud  of 
their  so  called  civilization,  and  infatuated  with  the  most  absurd 

Resp.  ad  Mated.  Reg.  Angl. 


CIRCULATION    OF    THE    BIBLE.  59 

religious  systems ;  others,  fallen  into  the  lowest  degree  of  bar- 
barism, and  who  must  become  men  before  becoming  Christians. 

What  method  can  the  advocates  of  Biblical  religion  take  to 
fulfil'  the  great  precept  of  Christ :  Go,  and  teach  all  nations  ? 
They  devote  large  sums  levied  on  their  credulous  fellow- 
believers  to  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  by  wretched  scholars,* 
into  all  necessary  tongues ;  they  print  every  year  these  trans 
lations  in  many  millions  of  copies.  They  afterwards  raise  a 
levy  from  the  working  class,  of  blacksmiths,  braziers,  and 
other  artizans  out  of  employ,  who,  for  an  annual  stipend, 
varying  from  six  to  eighteen  thousand  francs,  according 
to  the  number  of  children  they  bring  in  their  train,  will 
consent  to  hawk  about  and  disseminate  the  missionary  book 
in  all  countries  where  the  British  flag  floats. 

Let  us  imagine  one  of  these  envoys  of  the  Bible  Society 
arriving  in  an  Indian  village,  followed  by  two  wagons  loaded, 
one  with  his  family,  and  the  other  with  a  full  cargo  of  Bibles. 
What  can  he  do  in  the  midst  of  this  population,  whose  lan- 
guage and  habits  are  unknown  to  him,  and  whose  prejudices 
and  customs  he  will  shock  at  first  to  such  a  degree  as  to  cause 
him  to  be  hooted  at  or  murdered,f  if  it  were  not  for  the  re- 

*  These  are  the  words  of  the  learned  Dr.  Percival,  Chaplain  to  the 
King  of  England,  in  a  document  published  May,  1837,  under  this  title: 
"  Reasons  why  I  am  not  a  member  of  the  Bible  Society."  We  read 
there:  "  It  freezes  the  blood  in  the  veins  of  a  Christian  to  think,  that 
there  exists  in  the  nineteenth  century  a  society,  which  insolently  sport- 
ing with  the  oracles  of  the  all  Powerful,  dares  to  present  to  idolatrous 
nations  as  the  divine  word,  the  labors  of  miserable  scholars,  and  shame- 
fully swindles  simple  and  too  credulous  men  who  maintain  this  society 
with  their  money." 

t  1  shall  here  quote  an  anecdote  of  a  Protestant  missionary,  who. 
rinding  himself  thirsty  in  the  midst  of  a  warm  address  to  some  Hin- 
doos, exhorting  them  to  read  the  Bible,  bethought  himself  of  drawing 
from  his  pocket  a  flagon  of  liquor,  and  pouring  it  into  his  mouth. 
This  incongruity  put  to  flight  the  most  delicate  of  his  audience  and  threw 
the  rest  into  fits  of  laughter 


GO  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

spect  which  the  English  artillery  inspires,  which  these  gentle- 
men have  always  the  prudence  to  keep  in  sight  in  their 
apostolic  and  biblical  excursions.  But  these  good  Hindoos 
cannot  surmount  their  invincible  repugnance  to  the  costume 
of  this  stranger.*  How,  then,  can  he  make  them  compre- 
hend the  necessity  of  reading  the  Bible  ? 

Without  doubt,  the  inquiry  will  be  made,  what  this  religion 
is  which  he  announces.  What  will  he  answer?  If  he  takes 
it  upon  himself  to  dogmatise,  according  to  the  particular 
views  of  his  sect,  he  is  at  war,  not  with  the  Hindoos,  but 
with  all  sects  of  different  creeds,  who  also  send  Bible-carriers 
into  India. 

He  is  contradicted  and  anathematized,  at  the  same  time, 
by  the  evangelical  and  the  unevangelical  Lutheran,  by  the 
Episcopalian  and  the  Presbyterian,  by  the  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dist and  the  Whitfieldian  Methodist,  by  the  Unitarian,  the 
Universalist,  the  Independent,  the  Anabaptist,  the  Pedobaptist, 
the  Antipedobaptist,  the  Freewell  Baptist,  the  Six-principle 
Baptist,  the  Free  Communion  Baptist,  the  Quaker,  the  Mo- 
ravian, the  Rationalist,  the  Superrationalist,  and  the  other 
representatives  of  the  innumerable  sects  which  multiply  in  the 
bosom  of  Protestantism.  What  will  the  adorers  of  Vishnou 
think  of  such  a  witches'  Sabbath ! 

If,  in  conformity  to  his  principles,  the  Bible  missionary  an- 
swers :  The  religion  which  I  announce  to  you  is  all  in  this 
book.f  Read  it  with  the  desire  to  learn,  and  you  will  soon 

*  Concerning  the  horror  which  the  form  of  our  garments  and  our 
shoes  inspire  in  the  Hindoos,  and  especially  the  animal  materials  of 
which  they  are  composed,  (See  the  learned  work  of  M.  1'Abbe"  Dubois : 
Mceurs  et  Usages  des  Peuples  de  VInde.,  vol.  i.  p.  43G.) 

t  In  fart  this  is  the  only  account  which  a  protestant  minister  can 
give  of  Christianity,  and  a  celebrated  Anglican  Bishop  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  last  century,  candidly  acknowledged,  not  in  a  private  inter- 
view, but  in  a  pastoral  to  his  clergy.  Speaking  of  the  Christian  doctrines 
he  says :  "  I  can  more  surely  indicate  to  you  where  they  are  found, 


CIRCULATION    OF    THE    BIBLE.  61 


know  the  true  God,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  would  be 
served.  Behold,  then,  all  those  poor  Pagans,  who  do  not 
know  how  to  read,  excluded  from  the  kingdom  of  Heaven, 
and,  as  for  the  learned,  how  many  of  them  are  there  who 
would  consent  to  read  through  a  large  book,  in  order  to  find 
in  it  an  unknown  religion,  and  one  which  its  apostles  them- 
selves cannot  define ! 

We  will  suppose  that  curiosity  may  lead  some  to  open  the 
mysterious  volume,  and  that  the  translation  of  it  is  as  exact 
and  intelligible  as  it  is  inaccurate  and  obscure,  according  to 
the  account  of  the  best  judges  on  the  subject*  What  idea 
could  the  Indian,  whose  principles  in  philosophy,  religion, 
morality,  and  literature,  differ  so  singularly  from  ours,  form  of 
this  book,  and  the  religion  it  contains !  In  what  estimation 
could  he  hold  the  patriarchs,  Jesus  Christ  himself,  and  his 
Apostles,  if  he  should  see  them  drinking  wine,  sacrificing 
and  eating  sheep  and  oxen,  when  he  holds  in  abomination 
intoxicating  drinks,  and  regards  the  slaying  of  a  cow  as  an 
unpardonable  sin ;  who  would  be  less  shocked  to  see  human  Jlesh 

than  tell  you  what  they  are.  They  are  contained  in  the  Bible ;  and 
if,  on  reading  this  book,  your  sentiments  concerning  Christianity  differ 
from  those  of  your  neighbors,  be  assured  that  infallibility  belongs  to 
you  as  little  as  to  the  Church."  Address  of  Bishop  Watson  to  his 
Clergy,  1795.  (See  Milner,  Excellence  of  the  Catholic  Religion, 
vol.  i.  p.  105.)  What  is  to  be  thought  of  a  religion  which  its  most 
learned  ministers  publibly  declare  they  do  not  understand  ?  What  can 
be  thought  of  those  same  ministers  who  have  the  assurance  to  teach 
to  the  world  what  they  do  not  themselves  comprehend  !  This  is  indeed 
absurdity  carried  out  to  its  fullest  extent. 

*  As  to  the  theological  and  literary  merit  of  these  translations,  the 
disinterestedness  and  address  of  those  who  make  and  distribute  them, 
and  to  the  fruit  which  infidels  gather  from  them,  some  instructive  and 
curious  reflections  and  anecdotes,  taken  for  the  most  part,  from  Protes- 
tant Journals,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Jlnnals  of  the  Propagation  of 
the  Faith,  vol.  ii.  p.  1,  et  seq.,  vol.  iv.  p.  174;  et  seq.,  vol.  v.  p.  685; 
vol.  viii.  p.  5S7. 

VOL.    II.  6 


62  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

eaten  lhan  a  slice  of  beef,*  and  who  would  rather  die  than 
kill  the  vermin  who  were  devouring  him!  If  the  Bible  offers 
to  the  Indian  these  two  enormities  in  its  most  sacred  persons, 
nothing  more  would  be  wanting  to  complete  in  him  the  ex- 
treme contempt  he  feels  for  everything  foreign. 

It  will  be  asked,  what  do  these  five  thousand  itinerant  de- 
puties, men  as  well  as  women,  employed  by  the  Bible  societies, 
accomplish  ?  They  only  promulgate  contempt  for  the  Gospel, 
"  and  their  labors,  according  to  the  confession  of  their  most 
judicious  fellow-believers,  instead  of  enlightening  the  heathen, 
are  only  adapted  to  strengthen  their  prejudices  against  the 
faith,  if  it  should  ever  be  announced  to  them  in  a  more  regular 
manner."  f 

If  the  number  of  Christian  natives,  who  amounted,  eighty 
years  since,  to  more  than  twelve  hundred  thousand  in  the 
peninsula  of  India,  is  now  reduced  to  perhaps  less  than  half 
that  number,  if  the  honest  Indian  regards  a  suggestion  to 
embrace  Christianity  as  a  mere  pleasantry,  or  a  serious 
insult,  J  it  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  Europeans,  and  espe- 
cially Protestant  missionaries. 

Of  what  avail,  then,  the  thirty  or  forty  millions  which  the 
Bible  Societies  expend  annually  in  Bibles  and  Colporteurs  ?  § 

*  M.  Dubois,  Mceurs  ct  Instil.,  vol.  i.  p.  430. 

t  Words  of  an  English  Journal,  quoted  by  M.  de  Maistre,  Du  Pape. 
torn.  ii.  p.  17. 

\  Mceurs  et  Institutions  des  Peitples  de  Vlnde,  torn.  i.  p.  424. 

§  The  English  journals  announced,  in  1835,  that  in  the  year  1834, 
alone  the  expenses  of  the  Bible  Society  had  increased  to  between  five 
and  six  millions  of  dollars.  In  December,  1841,  the  Missionary 
Register,  showed  the  receipts  of  the  year,  for  the  three  United  King- 
doms only,  to  amount  to  five  millions,  and  the  number  of  Bibles 
printed,  to  3,937,944.  Adding  the  collections  made  in  other  countries, 
Protestant  or  mixed,  a  total  amount  of  nearly  eight  millions  of  dollars 
would  be  a  low  estimate.  "  If  the  money  which  this  Society  expends 
in  Bibles  had  been  given  to  the  Pope  to  be  devoted  to  Missions,  it 


CIRCULATION    OF    THE    BIBLE.  63 

"  They  serve,"  says  the  Prussian  and  Protestant  naturalist, 
Meyen,  "  to  enrich  the  hypocritical  missionaries  whom  a 
grasping  cupidity  and  devouring  ambition  have  driven  to 
these  distant  shores ;  men,  besides,  so  imbecile,  that  many  of 
them  have  not  been  able  to  gain  a  livelihood  as  simple  work- 
men .  .  .  Some  of  these  modest  personages  have  been  able 
in  two  years,  to  amass  a  fortune  of  more  than  fifteen  thousand 
crowns."* 

They  serve,  too,  to  enrich  the  Chinese  artizans  who  have 
discovered  the  secret  of  employing  the  Bibles  to  supply  shoes 
for  their  countrymen.f 

They  serve,  too,  to  divert  our  seamen  by  the  spectacle  of 
the  islanders  of  Polynesia,  "  Sitting  crouched  upon  the  ground 
m  a  chapel,  under  the  superintendence  of  a  minister  or  his 
wife,  frequently  holding  their  Bible  upside  down,  and  endea- 
vouring to  imitate  by  a  kind  of  muttering  the  sound  of  a 
child  spelling."| 

We  shall  see  elsewhere  what  becomes  of  these  poor 
islanders,  whenever  the  Methodist  missionaries,  aided  by  the 
power  of  the  sabre,  have  imposed  on  them  the  reading  of  the 
Bible. 

We  have  made  it  sufficiently  evident  that  the  idea  of  con- 
would  have  made  more  Christians  than  these  Bibles  have  pages." 
— De  Maistre,  Du  Pape,  liv.  iii.  ch.  1. 

*  See  Annales  de  la  Propag.,  torn.  viii.  p.  11. 

t  See  the  Asiatic  Journal  of  London,  for  183G,  on  the  subject  of  two 
Bible  missionaries  sent  to  China:  "After  a  voyage  of  two  months  and 
ten  days,  they  returned  to  Canton,  well  satisfied  with  their  expedition,  for 
they  had  the  happiness  to  land,  in  the  different  places  which  they  visited, 
20,000  Bibles.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  this  cargo  of  Bibles  very  soon 
passed  into  the  cobblers'  stalls  of  the  country,  where  they  were  con- 
verted into  thick  paper  suitable  for  Chinese  slippers;  it  is  well  known 
that  this  took  place  recently  in  an  enterprise  of  the  same  kind." — 
Ami  de  la  Religion,  May  12th,  1S36. 

f  British  Review,  February,  1S38. 


64  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

verting  to  Christianity  by  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  an  idea 
absurd  enough  when  Europe  is  concerned,  is  a  ridiculous 
extravagance,  when  it  is  applied  to  the  infidels  of  India  or 
Oceanica. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

WHY    HAVE    THERE    BEEN,    AND    WHY    ARE    THERE    STILL 

BELIEVERS    IX    THE    BOSOM    OF    PROTESTANTISM. 

CONCLUSION. 

A  QUESTION  here  presents  itself.  If  Protestantism  is  really 
incompetent  to  make  Christians,  how  does  it  happen  that  it 
contains  Christians  in  faith  and  practice  ? 

The  mystery  is  easily  explained.  Those  Christians  are 
Protestant  in  name,  but  Catholics  in  fact,  destitute,  however, 
of  true  Catholicity.  They  are  worthy  people  whose  good 
sense  has  done  justice  to  the  fundamental  principle  of  the 
reformation,  and  who  seeing  very  clearly  that  they  were 
incompetent  to  create  for  themselves  a  religion,  judge  it 
easier  and  safer  to  hold  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers,  to  a 
religion  expressed  in  confessions  of  faith,  books  of  religion, 
catechisms,  and  the  preaching  of  their  ministers. 

They  are  souls  of  an  incomparable  docility,  who  believe 
on  the  word  of  ministers  who  do  not  believe  or  do  not  know 
what  they  ought  to  believe,  ministers  who  unceremoniously 
place  themselves  in  the  seats  from  which  they  have  driven 
the  Catholic  Pontiffs,  and  thence  exercise  over  consciences 
an  authority  no  Catholic  ever  conceded  to  Bishops,  Popes, 
Councils,  or  even  to  the  Apostles. 

In  fact,  what  was  the  power  of  the  Apostles  touching  doc- 
trine, according  to  Catholics  ?  The  power  of  revealing,  not 
of  inventing.  What  power  do  they  recognise  in  Popes 


CONCLUSION.  C5 


Bishops  and  Councils  ?  The  power  of  preserving,  transmit- 
ting, preaching,  explaining,  and  defining,  in  case  of  difference, 
the  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Apostles,  but  never  of 
changing  or  modifying  it,  of  taking  away  from  or  adding  one 
iota  to  it. 

On  the  contrary,  how  is  it  with  the  Reformation  ?  We  see 
its  leaders,  lights  and  apostles,  arrogating  to  themselves  in 
matters  of  faith  an  authority  more  than  divine ;  pruning,  cur- 
tailing and  denying  what  they  have  affirmed,  affirming  what 
they  have  denied,  sporting  insolently  with  the  Sacred  Books, 
changing  confessions  of  faith  as  they  would  change  their 
clothes,  and  causing  their  contemporary  and  disciple,  Dudith, 
to  say :  "  Our  people  are  carried  away  by  every  wind  of 
doctrine.  If  you  know  what  their  religion  is  to-day,  you 
cannot  tell  what  it  will  be  to-morrow."* 

Luther,  after  having  crushed  free-will,  under  the  action  of 
Divine  foreknowledge,  and  made  of  man  an  automaton 
whom  faith  alone  justifies  and  whose  good  works  are  so 
many  crimes ;  after  having  taught  that  God  works  in  us  both 
good  and  evil,  that  he  is  no  less  the  author  of  the  treason  of 
Judas  than  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul,  that  he  condemns  the 
innocent  as  he  crowns  the  unworthy  ;  Luther,  after  all  that, 
directed  his  disciple  Melancthon  to  re-establish  in  the  Augs- 
burg confession  of  faith,  free-will  and  the  merit  of  good 
works,  and  passed  over  in  silence  the  cruel  doctrine  of  pre- 
destination to  evil.  Afterwards  Luther  retracted  his  retrac- 
traction.f  He  retained  and  defended  the  real  presence  in  the 
Eucharist,  notwithstanding  the  great  desire  he  had  to  deny  it 
in  order  to  injure  the  papacy  ;  and  yet  he  promised  a  golden 
florin  to  Carlstadt  if  he  would  write  on  the  other  side.  He 

*  Letter  to  Beza,  Inter  Epist.  Bezse. 

t  Bossuet,  Histoire  des  Variations,  etc.,  liv.  ii. — Moehler,  Sym- 
£»«  lisme,  book  i.  ch.  3. 

6* 


66  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

denied  transubstantiation  as  an  impiety  and  a  blasphemy, 
invented  consubstantiation,  declared  both  indifferent,  returned 
to  his  first  idea,  then  permitted  transubstantiation  to  some 
churches  of  Italy.*  Pressed  by  the  reasoning  of  Satan,  in 
the  famous  nocturnal  conference,  he  abolished  the  mass  as  an 
infernal  invention,  then  appeared  disposed  to  re-establish  it  in 
order  to  sport  with  Carlstadtf  He  suppressed,  re-established 
and  allowed,  at  will,  the  oblation,  the  elevation  and  the  adora- 
tion in  the  Supper.  He  recognised  three,  then  four  sacra- 
ments, and  ended  by  retaining  only  two.  As  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, he  curtailed  everything  which  troubled  him,  and  added 
the  word  which  he  needed,  treated  the  Epistle  of  St.  James 
as  an  epistle  of  straw,  the  Book  of  Job  as  a  fable,  &c.  and 
justified  the  whole  by  saying :  "  I,  Martin  Luther,  as  I  choose, 
so  I  ordain ;  since  my  will  takes  the  place  of  reason." 

History  shows  us  in  other  leaders  of  the  Reformation,  and 
their  successors  in  the  ministry  of  the  Bible,  the  same  licence 
in  matters  of  doctrine,  a  wonderful  fertility  in  constantly 
renewed  professions  of  faith,  a  rare  skill  in  deceiving  each 
other,  in  cunningly  changing  doctrines  and  in  trafficking  in 
them,  and  in  the  attempts  they  made  at  different  periods  to 
disguise  their  divisions  and  give  themselves  the  air  of  unity. 
England,  subjected  by  the  Reformation  to  the  spiritual  gov- 
ernment of  its  male  and  female  popes,  in  less  than  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  found  it  necessary  to  change  her  religion 
eight  times.|; 

*  Histoire  des  Variations,  76.  f  Ibid.,  livre  iii. 

J  An  English  publication  (The  Catholic  Miscellany,  June,  1S20,) 
has  the  ingenious  idea  of  giving  to  the  picture  of  these  eight  religious 
transformations,  the  frame-work  of  the  long  life  of  the  Englishman, 
Henry  Jenkins,  who,  born  in  1501,  under  Henry  VII.  did  not  die  till 
1G70,  under  Charles  II.  One  of  the  best  saints  of  the  Anglican  Reform- 
ation, Cranmer,  only  lived  sixty-five  years,  and  yet  he  had  time  to 
change  his  religion  seventeen  times. — (Cobbett,  Letters  on  the 
Reformation.) 


CONCLUSION.  67 


Such  were  the  men  who  succeeded  in  imposing  their  absurd 
vagaries  for  more  than  two  centuries  on  fifty  millions  of  men ; 
such  were  the  authors  of  those  symbolic  books  which  for  a 
long  time  served  as  a  rule  of  faith  to  various  synods,  among 
others  to  that  of  Dort,  of  so  disgraceful  and  ridiculous  mem- 
ory. It  was  there  that,  just  a  century  after  Luther  deriding 
the  thunders  of  the  Church  had  proclaimed  the  supremacy  of 
each  individual  in  matters  of  failh,  that  the  representatives 
of  the  reformed  Churches  were  seen  armed  with  the  spiritual 
sword,  invoking  even  the  secular  arm  against  the  unhappy 
remonstrants,  to  excommunicate  them,  and  depose  them  with 
a  unanimous  voice,  and  why  ?  because  they  refused  to  be- 
lieve, on  the  word  of  the  misanthropic  reformer  of  Geneva, 
that  God  had  resolved  from  all  eternity  to  make  Adam  sin 
and  to  precipitate  into  hell  a  large  majority  of  his  descend- 
ants ;  that  Jesus  Christ  had  suffered  death  only  for  the  benefit 
of  a  small  number  of  elect ;  that  grace  was  irresistible ; 
sanctity  inadmissible,  and  that  the  most  abominable  crimes 
were  no  obstacle  to  the  salvation  of  any  one  who  was  justified 
by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus !  * 

It  was  by  this  solemn  abjuration  of  liberty  of  opinion,  by 
this  shameless  aping  of  the  Catholic  system,  that  Protestantism 
could  resist  the  influence  of  the  germ  of  incredulity  that  it 
bore  in  its  bosom,  and  present  to  the  unpractised  eye  an  ap- 
pearance of  Christianity. 

And  since  its  writers  and  ministers,  blushing  at  the  absurd 
doctrines  of  their  leaders,  and  the  humiliating  servitude  which 
was  imposed  upon  them,  have  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  confes- 
sions of  faith,  and  proclaimed  individualism  in  religion,  what 
do  we  see?  Is  the  independence  which  these  personages 
arrogate  to  themselves  any  advantage  to  the  lambs  of  their 
flock  ?  What  have  the  Protestant  people  gained  by  this 
emancipation  of  their  religious  leaders,  where  habit  or  the 
*  See  Histoire  des  Variations,  liv.  14. 


68  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

laws  still  retain  them  in  a  sort  of  belief?  They  have  gained 
the  singular  advantage  of  believing  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
ministers,  who  have  no  longer  a  doctrine,  and  who  declare 
that  they  no  longer  wish  to  hear  it  spoken  of,  in  any  way. 
Here  are  ministers  notoriously  incredulous,  who  still  employ 
the  Papist  weapons  of  vow  and  excommunication  to  retain 
twenty  thousand  dupes  in  a  religion  which  no  longer  exists.* 
There  is  the  Lutheran  consistory  of  Stockholm,  which,  in 
a  petition  to  the  first  tribunal  of  the  kingdom,  demands  the 
application  of  the  royal  ordinances,  carrying  confiscation  of 
property,  privation  of  all  rigM  to  succession,  and  perpetual 
banishment,  against  all  Swedes  who  should  take  it  upon  them- 
selves to  understand  the  Bible,  otherwise  than  Gustavus  Vasa, 
founder  of  the  Swedish  Church.f 

If  there  yet  remains  any  vestige  of  Christian  faith  in  Pro- 
testant Churches,  it  is  in  those  countries  where  a  phantom  of 
the  priesthood  has  retained  a  shade  of  authority.  There  the 
people  still  believe,  because  they  hear,  faith  coming  by  hear- 
ing.], Protestants  have  retained  only  that  proportion  of 
Christianity  which  they  have  preserved  from  Catholicism. 
Nowhere  do  they  show  themselves  faithful  to  the  principle  of 
the  Reformation,  without  becoming  faithless  to  Jesus  Christ 


It  has  now  been  sufficiently  proved  that  the  rule  of  Protes- 

*  The  discovery  of  this  extremely  curious  fact  is  due  to  the  learned 
Prelate,  who,  by  his  Recherches  Historiques  sur  /«  veritable  origine 
ties  Vaudois  (Paris,  1836),  has  just  added  a  beautiful  supplement  to 
the  invaluable  Histoire  des  Variations.  (See  Guide  du  Catechumene 
Vaudois,  &c.,  by  Mgr.  Charvaz,  Bishop  of  Pignerol;  Paris,  1840; 
Turin,  1843;  torn.  i.  p.  42;  torn.  iii.  p.  6S. 

t  Most  journalists  have  dated  this  valuable  document  of  religious 
toleration  in  Sweden,  Oct.  17, 1843.  The  criminal  who  was  the  object 
of  the  persecutions  of  the  consistory,  was  M.  J.  D.  Wilson,  a  distin- 
guished artist,  recently  converted  to  Catholicism. 

\  Fides  ex  auditer.     (Rom.  x.  17.) 


CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE.  69 

tant  faith  has  no  foundation  in  Scripture,  in  history,  in  the 
nature  of  Christianity,  and  of  the  human  mind,  since  she  has 
everything  against  her,  even  the  conviction  and  conduct  of 
her  advocates.  This  demonstration  will  receive  new  light 
from  what  we  are  about  to  say  touching  the  rule  of  Catholic 
faith. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE. ITS   IMMOVEABLE    FOUNDATIONS    IN 

THE    GOSPEL. 

Is  the  rule  of  Catholic  faith  founded  on  Scripture  ?  Does 
the  Bible  prove  that  Jesus  Christ  has  established  pastors  who 
must  preach  his  doctrine  with  a  sovereign  authority,  through- 
out all  the  world,  till  the  end  of  time,  and  that  he  has  pro- 
tected them  against  all  serious  error  in  their  teaching,  by  his 
perpetual  presence  in  the  midst  of  them  ? 

In  order  to  answer  this  question,  it  is  not  necessary  to 
spend  much  time  in  turning  over  the  leaves  of  the  Gospels. 
Let  us  listen  to  the  farewell  words  of  the  divine  Master  to  his 
apostles.  "  Go,  therefore,  teach  ye  all  nations ;  baptizing 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  have  commanded  you :  and,  behold,  I  am  with  you  all  days, 
even  to  the  consummation  of  the  world."  * 

These  words  have  no  need  of  commentary,  and  all  that  the 
controversialists  of  the  Reformation  have  invented  to  elude  their 
force,  only  proves  one  thing — the  commendable  desire  that 
Jesus  did  not  say  them,  or  that  St.  Matthew  did  not  record  them.j- 

*  St.  Matth.  xxviii.  18,  19,  20. 

t  The  plan  of  this  work  excluding  discussions  of  any  length,  the 
reader  who  wishes  for  more  full  Scriptural  proof,  in  addition  to  that 


70  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Jesus  Christ  had  previously  said  to  these  same  disciples,  whom 
he  here  ordered  to  preach  and  baptize,  even  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  world :  "  Verily,  I  say  to  you,  whatsoever  ye  shall 
bind  upon  earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven  ;  and  whatsoever  ye 
shall  loose  upon  earth,  shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven."* 

The  evening  before  his  death,  he  had  said  to  them :  "  I  will 
ask  the  Father,  and  he  will  give  you  another  Paraclete,  that 
he  may  abide  with  you  forever,  The  spirit  of  truth  whom  the 
world  cannot  receive ;  .  .  .  The  Paraclete,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
whom  the  Father  will  send  in  my  name.  He  will  teach  you 
all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  mind,  whatsoever  I 
have  said  to  you.  But  when  He,  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  shall 
come,  He  will  teach  you  all  the  truth."  f 

He  had  said  of  those  to  whom  he  sent  them :  "  He  that 
heareth  you,  heareth  Me ;  and  he  that  despiseth  you,  de- 
spiseth  Me.J  And  whosoever  shall  not  receive  you,  nor  hear 
your  words,  going  forth  out  of  that  house  or  city,  shake  off 
the  dust  from  your  feet.  Verily,  I  say  to  you :  it  shall  be 
less  grievous  for  the  land  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  on  the  day 
of  judgment,  than  for  that  city.§  He  that  believeth  not  shall 
be  condemned."  || 

St.  Paul,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  chap,  iv.,  insists, 
in  the  first  place,  on  the  necessity  of  preserving  the  unity  of 
the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace :  "  You  are  all  one  body  and 
one  spirit,  as  you  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling. 
There  is  one  Lord,  one  faith,  and  one  baptism."  He  shows 
them  afterwards  the  principle  and  foundation  of  that  unity  in 

given  in  this  chapter  and  the  following,  and  also  a  detailed  refutation 
of  the  objections  of  Protestantism,  will  find  both  in  the  works  of  our 
modern  controversialists,  particularly  in  the  Discourses  on  the  Doc- 
trines of  the  Catholic  Church,  by  Dr.  Wiseman,  dis.  iii.  iv.  v.  viii. ; 
and  in  the  Guide,  du  Cattchumene  Vaudois,  torn.  ii.  liv.  iv.  entrel. 
viii.  ix.  \. ;  liv.  v.  entrel.  i.  ii.  iii. 

*  Matth.  xviii.  13.      t  John  xiv.  16,  26.— xiv.  13.      $  Luke  x.  10 
§  Matth.  x.  14,  15  ||  Mark  xvi.  16. 


CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE.  71 


the  establishment  which  Jesus  Christ  has  made  "  of  apostles, 
prophets,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  doctors,  for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of 
the  body  of  Jesus  Christ."  How  long  will  this  ministry  last  ? 
"  Until  we  all  meet  into  the  unity  of  faith,  and  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man  ;"  that  is  to  say, 
as  long  as  there  are  men  to  be  saved.  And  what  is  accord- 
ing to  the  apostle,  the  authority  of  these  pastors  and  doctors  ? 
It  is  sufficient  to  take  away  all  fear  of  error  in  following 
them.  "  That  we  be  no  more  children  tossed  to  and  fro,  and 
carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine,  by  the  wickedness 
of  men."  *  The  Apostle  afterwards  speaks  of  the  intimate 
connection  and  hierarchical  subordination  of  all  the  members 
of  the  body  of  the  Church,  a  subject  which  he  often  treats  in 
his  epistles,  particularly  in  his  first  to  the  Corinthians,  chap, 
xii.,  and  he  adds :  "  This,  then,  I  say,  and  testify  in  the  Lord, 
that  henceforward  you  walk  not  as  also  the  Gentiles  walk  in 
the  vanity  of  their  mind  ? 

I  invite  our  separated  brethren  to  meditate  on  these  two 
chapters,  and  ask  themselves  afterwards,  with  their  hand  upon 
their  heart :  "  Where  is  the  religious  society  which  realizes 
the  idea  that  St.  Paul  gives  us  of  the  mystical  body  of  Jesus 
Christ,  of  that  Church  of  the  living  God,  which  he  elsewhere 
names  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth  1"  \  Is  it  the  Church 
which  Luther  found  existing  after  fifteen  centuries,  and  whose 
powerful  organization  resisted  all  his  fury  ?  or  is  it  that  con- 
fused multitude  of  Christians  whom  he  excited  to  rebellion 
against  her,  and  whom  he  delivered  up  to  every  wind  of  doc- 
trine, and  to  the  vanity  of  their  mind,  by  telling  them,  in  op- 
position to  the  express  words  of  St.  Paul :  You  are  all  apostles, 
prophets,  doctors,  and  interpreters  of  the  Scriptures  ?  J 

*  Ephes.  iv.  4,  5,  11,  12,  13,  14.  f  I-  Tim.  iii.  15. 

\.  Numquid  omnes  apostoli  ?  Numquid  omnes  prophetae  ?  Numquid 
omnes  doctores  ?  Numquid  omnes  interpretantur  ?  (I.  Cor.  xii.  29,  30.) 


72      THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 

The  Bible,  tlien,  shows  us  the  establishment  of  a  body  of 
pastors  teaching,  even  to  the  end  of  time,  the  divine  doctrine, 
with  that  infallible  authority  which  the  perpetual  presence  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  the  Spirit  of  Truth  in  the  midst  of  them 
gives. 

This  would  be  sufficient  for  the  Catholic.  But  could  not 
the  Bible  afford  a  better-defined  plan  of  the  organization  of 
his  Church,  and  a  more  complete  justification  of  the  hier- 
archical system  than  he  there  finds. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

HARMONY    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    HIERARCHY    WITH    BIBLICAL 
PRINCIPLES. 

"THE  supreme  power  in  the  Church,"  says  the  Council  of 
Trent  ;*  "  the  full  power  of  supporting,  ruling,  and  governing 
the  universal  Church,"  says  the  Council  of  Florence,  resides, 
by  divine  right,  in  the  Pontiff  of  Rome,  who,  in  quality  of  the 
successor  of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter,  is  true  vicar  of  Jesus 
Christ,  visible  Head  of  the  whole  Church,  common  Father 
and  Doctor  of  all  Christians."  f 

To  aid  in  this  immense  task,  the  Roman  Pontiff  has  his 
venerable  brethren  in  the  episcopacy :  they  also  being  divinely 
appointed  to  the  government  of  particular  churches,J  and 
called,  according  to  the  exigences  of  the  case,  to  take  part  in 
the  general  government  of  the  Church,  in  the  general  coun- 
cils; yet,  in  subordination  to  the  supreme  Head,  to  whom 
alone  it  belongs  to  convoke  them,  to  preside  over  them  in 
person  or  by  his  legates,  and  to  confirm  their  decrees. 

*  Sess.  xiv.  cap.  vii.  f  Labbe,  Collect,  torn,  xviii.  col.  526. 

*  Act.  Ap.  xx.  28. 


THE    CATHOLIC    HIERARCHY.  73 

Under  tiie  bishops  are  the  priests,  the  deacons,  and  other 
ministers  destined  to  aid  them  in  the  care  of  particular 
churches. 

Such  is  the  hierarchical  chain  which  unites  the  simple  be- 
liever, by  the  priest  who  directs  him,  to  his  bishop ;  by  the 
bishop  to  the  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  who  makes  of  a 
hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  Catholics,  according  to  the 
words  of  St.  Paul,  one  body,  one  spirit,  having  one  Lord,  one 
faith,  one  baptism.  Is  this  chain  of  divine  formation,  and  do 
we  find  the  links  of  it  in  Scripture  ? 

Whenever  the  Divine  Savior  speaks  of  his  Church,  he  em- 
ploys expressions  which  imply  the  idea  of  unity :  it  is  a  king- 
dom, a  city,  a  house,  a  flock — and  he  announces  expressly 
his  intention  of  uniting  all  those  who  believe  in  him,  in  one 
fold,  under  one  Shepherd.* 

Among  the  twelve  disciples  whom  he  chose  to  form  his 
flock,  and  found  his  church,  it  is  Peter  whom  he  destined  to 
replace  himself,  when  he  returned  to  his  Father,  as  visible 
head  of  all  the  flock,  and  corner-stone  of  the  mystic  edifice. 

God  changed  the  name  of  Abraham,  when,  in  recompense 
of  his  faith,  he  made  him  head  of  the  old  covenant,  the  de- 
pository of  the  promise  of  salvation,  and  father  of  numerous 
kings  and  nations.^  Simon,  Son  of  Jona,  whose  great  faith 
obtained  for  him  a  similar  but  much  higher  mission,  under  the 
new  covenant,  received  also  from  Jesus  Christ  a  new  name. 
"  Thou  art  Simon  son  of  Jona ;  thou  shalt  be  called  Cephas, 
which  is,  being  interpreted,  Peter."  J 

The  divine  Master  soon  revealed  the  mysterious  significa- 
tion of  this  name.  "  Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar-Jona : 
because  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  to  thee,  but  my 
Father,  who  is  in  heaven.  And  I  say  to  thee,  that  thou  art 
Peter,  and  on  this  rock  I  will  build  My  Church,  and  the  gates 

*  John  x.  16  f  Genes,  xvii.  5.  f  John  i.  42. 

VOL.    II.  7 


74  THE    SOLUTION    OP    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give  tliee  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth,  it  shall  be  bound  also  in  heaven ;  and  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  loose  upon  earth,  it  shall  be  loosed  also  in  heaven."* 

.Here  we  behold  Peter  chosen  by  the  Divine  Architect  for 
the  foundation  of  that  Church  which  must  be  forever  victorious 
over  the  attacks  of  hell.  We  see  him  possessed  of  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven,  the  symbol  of  sovereign  power ; 
invested  with  an  infallible  authority,  since  all  his  sentences 
are  to  receive  the  confirmation  of  Heaven. 

And  in  order  to  make  manifest  that  these  magnificent  pre- 
rogatives have  been  granted  to  Peter  only,  for  the  advantage 
of  the  whole  Church,  and  for  the  support  of  his  brethren  in 
the  deadly  war  which  the  enemy  of  salvation  will  wage  against 
them,  Jesus  Christ  has  said  elsewhere :  "  Simon,  Simon,  be- 
hold, Satan  hath  sought  you,  to  sift  you  as  wheat :  But  I  have 
prayed  for  thee,  that  thy  faith  fail  not,  and  thou  being  once 
converted  (allusion  to  his  approaching  fall),  confirm  thy 
brethren."  f 

Jesus  Christ,  after  his  resurrection,  addressing  Peter,  teaches 
us  how  he  will  realize  the  idea  of  onejlock  and  one  shepherd, 
when,  being  in  the  midst  of  his  sheep  only  invisibly,  he  can 
no  longer  be  their  rallying  point  on  earth.  "  Simon,  son  of 
John,  lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?  "  pointing  to  the  other 
disciples.  "  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  I  love  thee." 
"  Feed  my  lambs."  Jesus  Christ  twice  repeats  the  question, 
and  to  the  order  twice  given  to  feed  the  lambs,  he  adds 
another,  to  feed  the  sheep;  that  is.  the  whole  flock. J 

To  invalidate  the  proof  which  results  from  the  passages 
above  cited,  in  favor  of  the  Papal  supremacy,  Protestant 
writers  attempt  to  prove,  either  that  Jesus  Christ  has  granted 
nothing  more  to  Peter  than  to  his  colleagues  in  the  Apostle- 

*  Malth.  xvi.  17,  18,  19.  t  Luke  xxii.  .'11,  38. 

J  John  xxi   15,  1(5,  1?. 


THE    CATHOLIC    HIERARCHY.  75 

ship,  or  that  the  prerogatives  bestowed  were  personal,  and 
must  terminate  with  this  Apostle.  I  shall  only  make  two  ob- 
servations on  this  subject. 

I.  The  gift  which  Jesus  Christ  granted  to  all  the  Apostles, 
collectively,  of  the  power  to  loose  and  bind  (Matt,  xviii.  18), 
cannot  annul  the  prerogative  granted  individually  to  Peter; 
and  both  are  perfectly  reconcileable  in  the  minds  of  Catho- 
lics, who  know  that  Bishops  have  been  placed  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  to  rule  the  Church  of  God  ;*  yet,  in  union  with  Peter, 
who  was  divinely  commissioned  to  guide  them  also,  and  alone 
invested  with  the  sovereign  power  represented  by  the  keys. 

II.  To  say  that  the  prerogatives  granted  to  Peter  must  end 
with  him,  is  to  say  that  this  Church,  to  which  Jesus  Christ 
has  promised  eternal  stability  upon  the  rock  where  he  has 
built  it,  must  lose  its  foundation  under  Nero,  and  that,  from 
hence  deprived  of  him  who  was  its  strength,  and  who  held 
the  keys  of  it,  it  must  become  a  ruined  habitation,  open  to 
every  passer-by ;    that  is  to  say,  that  the  pastors  who  suc- 
ceeded the  Apostles,  without  inheriting  individually  their  doc- 
trinal infallibility,  would  have  less  need  than  they  of  being 
strengthened  in  the  faith  by  the  presence  and  the  voice  of  a 
chief  who  was  inaccessible  to  error ;  in  a  word,  it  is  to  say, 
that,  St.  Peter  once  dead,  the  lambs  of  Christ,  hitherto  united 
in  one  flock,  must  be  divided  into  as  many  flocks  as  there 
were  Bishops,  &c.,  &c. 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  demonstrate  the  succession  of  the 
Bishops  of  Rome  to  the  spiritual  supremacy,  by  the  fact  of 
the  establishment  of  the  See  of  St.  Peter,  at  Rome,  and  of  his 
death  in  that  city.  "  The  monuments  still  existing  in  this 
city,"  said  a  learned  controversialist,  "and  the  testimony  of 
the  writers  of  the  first  centuries,  place  this  fact  beyond  the 
reach  of  doubt.  Is  it  not  sufficient  to  say  that  the  authors, 
at  the  same  time  the  most  to  be  relied  on  for  their  erudition, 

t  Act  Ap.  xx.  23. 


76  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

and  the  most  decided  in  their  opposition  to  the  Roman 
Church,  have  recognized  this  fact,  and  have  maintained  the 
authenticity  of  it?*  Among  the  moderns,  no  ecclesiastical 
writer  of  any  value  has  contested  this  evidence.f 

To  find  in  the  Bible  the  existence  of  the  two  las*  links  of 

*  To  Cave,  Pearson,  Usher,  Young,  and  Blonde],  quoted  in  a  note 
by  Dr.  Wiseman,  may  be  added  Hammond,  Grotius,  Joseph  Scaliger, 
Kipping,  Bebel,  Leclerc,  Basnage,  Isaac  Newton,  Dumoulin,  Leibnitz, 
Casaubon,  the  Lutheran  ecclesiastical  historians  of  Magdeburg,  &c. 
Has  not  Calvin  himself,  who  at  first  dened  the  fact,  said :  Propter  scrip- 
torum  consensum,  non  pugno  quin  illic  (Romce)  mortuus  fuerit.  (Instit. 
lib.  iv.  cap.  vi.  15.) 

t  Wiseman,  Discourses  upon  the  Doctrines  and  Practices  of  the 
Catholic  Church,  Disc.  viii.  Among  the  moderns  without  value  who 
have  denied  this  fact,  I  may  be  permitted  to  cite  M.  Bost,  minister  of 
the  Holy  Gospel,  and  author  of  the  work  entitled,  Du  Pouvoir  de  Saint 
Pierre  dans  I'Eglise,  Geneve,  1833,  reproduced  with  an  ample  addition 
of  absurdities  and  violent  outrages,  under  this  title:  Jlppel  a  fa  Con- 
science de  tous  les  Catholiques  Remains,  particulierement  addresse" 
au  Pape,  Geneve,  1S40.  To  M.  Bost  I  will  add  Dr.  Malan,  jiasteur  de 
I'Eg/ise  du  Temoignage,  au  Pre  Beni,  a  Geneve,  and  author  of  the 
pamphlets :  Pourrais-je  entrer  jamais  dans  I'Eglise  Remain?,  aussi 
longtemps  que  je  croirai  toute  la  Bible  1  Les  droits  divins  du  Pro- 
testantisme,  &c.  Le  Pretre  et  le  Ministre,  &c.  The  last  among  the 
above-mentioned  tracts,  and  innumerable  others,  which  have  given  him 
the  reputation  of  an  Origen  among  the  five  hundred  lambs  of  the  Pre 
Beni,  informs  us  that,  among  us,  Catholics,  The  Pope  is  the  Lord 
God,  the  Lord  and  Creator  of  all  things,  the  very  great  and  good 
God,  the  sovereign  God,  who  should  be  adored  by  all  people,  that  we 
grant  him  the  same  authority  as  the  Eternal  over  the  crowns  and 
lives  of  kings,  that  we  reward  whoever  kills  by  poison  or  the  stvord, 
a  prince  whom  the  Pope  does  not  recognize,  &.C.,  &c.  (Droit  divins 
du  Protest,  p.  21, 22,31.)  He  informs  us,  also,  which  is  no  less  curious, 
that  the  Protestant  Church  numbered,  in  1529,  5,500  years'  duration  ; 
for  he  proves  that  God  became  a  Protestant,  when,  in  Eden,  he  rose 
against  Satan,  who  was  evidently  the  first  of  the  Popes.  (Ibid.  36, 
37,  50.) 

When  men,  insensible  to  public  contempt  and  the  triumphant  justice 
which  most  of  their  fellow-religionists  have  done  to  the  historical 


HISTORICAL    FOUNDATIONS    OF    CATHOLICISM.      77 

the  hierarchical  and  catholic  chain,  we  need  only  quote  the 
words  of  St.  Paul  to  Timothy :  Let  the  priests  that  rule  well 
be  esteemed  worthy  of  double  honor;*  the  order  which  he 
gives  to  Titus  to  establish  priests  in  the  cities,  as  he  had 
already  directed  him  ;  f  the  institution  of  deacons,|  and  what 
the  above  named  apostle  says  of  their  functions,  and  the 
qualities  which  they  demand.§ 

Let  us  cast  a  glance  over  Christian  history,  and  see  if  it 
confirms  the  Biblical  statements  concerning  the  institution  of 
a  body  of  pastors,  divinely  assisted  in  the  teaching  of  the 
doctrine  and  government  of  the  Church. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

EXAGGERATED    CONTEMPT    OF    THE    REFORMERS   FOR    TRADI- 
TION.  FAITHLESSNESS    OF   THEIR   HISTORIANS. HIS- 
TORICAL   FOUNDATIONS    OF    CATHOLICISM. 

IF  it  were  not  a  matter  of  historical  notoriety  that  science 
and  reason  had  no  part  in  the  establishment  of  Protestantism, 
and  that  the  real  foundation  of  the  Reformation  was,  as  the 
falsehoods  and  atrocious  calumnies  heaped  up  by  the  first  reformers 
against  the  catholic  Church  and  the  Popes,  do  not  fear  to  descend  into 
the  mire  of  the  sixteenth  century,  to  arm  themselves  there  at  all  points, 
I  shall  take  care  not  to  follow  them  into  this  region.  It  would  be 
doing  an  injury  to  the  elevated  minds  and  good  hearts,  of  which  Pro- 
testantism still  contains  many,  to  give  any  importance  to  the  buzzing 
of  the  insects  of  a  sect.  The  public,  too,  a  more  or  less  attentive 
spectator  of  religious  conflicts,  claims  our  consideration.  However 
much  it  may  be  interested  when  it  sees  us  opposed  to  loyal  antagonists, 
its  delicacy  is  wounded  when  it  sees  us  fighting  against  vermin ;  and 
the  most  complete  victory  over  these  animalculas  will  not  prevent  it 
from  telling  you  that  such  operations  should  be  performed  silently  and 
in  retirement. 

*  Tim.  v.  17.  t  Tit.  i.  5.  J  Acts.  Ap.  vi.  §  I.  Tiin.  iii.  8. 
7* 


7S  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Protestant  Hume  observes,  the  desire  to  steal  the  plate  and 
ornaments  of  the  altars*  it  would  be  impossible  to  comprehend 
the  great  and  complete  rupture  that  was  effected  by  it  with 
the  past. 

To  assume  as  a  principle,  as  was  then  done,  that  the  won- 
derful structure  of  Christianity,  reared  by  the  Son  of  God 
himself,  after  four  thousand  years  of  preparation,  had  been 
crushed  instantaneously  under  the  assaults  of  hell,  notwith- 
standing the  promises  of  the  Divine  Architect ;  that,  in  order 
to  restore  the  Divine  work,  all  that  forty  generations  of 
Christians  had  hitherto  believed  and  practised  must  be  counted 
as  nothing,  and  that  a  poor  woman  furnished  with  a  Bible 
could  accomplish  more  towards  it  than  all  the  Bishops  and 
doctors  in  the  world,  was  without  doubt  an  impiety  supremely 
extravagant.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  in  the  insanity  of 
pride  it  should  have  presented  itself  to  the  mind  of  a  Luther 
and  of  a  Calvin,  whose  unheard  of  doctrines  boldly  assailed 
the  faith  of  their  cotemporaries  and  of  all  antiquity ;  but  that 
from  their  mouth  this  absurdity  should  have  passed  into  the 
brain  of  fifty  millions  of  men  could  not  be  explained  except 
by  the  favor  of  princes,  who  were  proud  to  subject  to  their 
power  the  domain  of  conscience,  and  increase  their  treasures 
by  the  spoils  of  the  sanctuary,  by  the  attraction  offered  to 
all  the  bad  passions  in  the  right  granted  to  every  one  to 
construct  for  himself  a  religion,  after  his  own  fashion. 

*  History  of  England,  ch.  xl.  an.  15GS. — We  may  add,  still  follow- 
ing the  history,  the  desire  to  give  wives  to  princes  who  were  disgusted 
with  those  that  were  legitimate  (Henry  VIII.)  or  who  found  that  one 
was  not  sufficient,  (Philip  of  Hesse,)  and  to  priests  and  monks  who  were 
weary  of  celibacy,  (Luther,  (Ecolampadius,  Bucer,  Zwingle,  Carlstadt, 
Ochin,  Cranmer,  &c.)  Frederick  the  Great  has  still  better  said  :  "  If 
the  causes  of  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  were  reduced  to  simple 
principles,  it  would  be  seen  that  in  Germany  it  was  the  work  of  inter- 
est; in  England,  that^pf  love;  and  in  France,  that  of  novelty." — 
(Mtmoires  de  Brandebourg.) 


HISTORICAL    FOUNDATIONS    OF    CATHOLICISM.      79 


Follies,  however,  convenient  and  lucrative  they  may  be, 
have  their  season.  The  burning  fever  which  Luther  had 
communicated  to  a  part  of  Europe,  once  calmed,  all  reflect- 
ing minds,  who  still  esteemed  religion  a  serious  thing,  were 
not  slow  to  return  from  this  insane  contempt  for  Christian 
traditions.  It  became  evident  that  it  was  necessary  to  rank 
Christianity  among  chimeras,  or  acknowledge  that  Christ  and 
his  Apostles  had  left  on  the  earth  a  Christian  society  animated 
by  their  spirit  and  realising  in  its  doctrine,  discipline  and  con- 
stitution, the  ideal  of  Christianity.  It  was  plain,  that  for  a 
right  understanding  of  the  Scriptures,  it  was  better  to  listen 
to  the  Church  of  the  Martyrs  and  of  the  Holy  Fathers,  than 
to  the  shoemakers,  weavers,  and  blacksmiths  whom  the 
Reformation  had  transformed  into  interpreters. 

The  controversy  could  not  be  transferred  to  this  ground, 
without  an  immense  advantage  to  Catholicism.  Antiquity 
showed  it  coming  forth  from  the  hands  of  the  Apostles  with 
its  sacerdotal  hierarchy,  its  dogmas,  its  practices  and  all  its 
pretended  abominations  which  had  served  as  a  pretext  for  the 
Reformation.*  Hence  among  the  Protestants  most  eminent 
in  learning,  such  as  Grotius,  Leibnitz,  &c.,  that  homage 
offered  to  Pontifical  supremacy,  that  regret  for  the  fatal  rup- 
ture made  by  the  Reformers,  and  that  tendency  towards 
a  reconciliation.!  Hence  those  conversions,  continually 

*  The  celebrated  English  Bishop,  Thomas  Newton,  avows  with  sim- 
plicity, that  the  germs  of  Papacy  were  sowed  in  the  times  of  the 
Jlpostles.  (See  De  Maistre,  Du  Pape,  torn.  ii.  p.  262.)  The  deist, 
Gibbon,  also  acknowledges,  "  that  a  well  informed  man  could  not 
resist  the  weight  of  historical  evidence  which  establishes  that  through- 
out the  first  four  ages  of  the  Church,  the  principal  points  of  Papal 
doctrine  were  already  admitted  in  theory  and  practice." — (Memoires, 
vol.  i.  ch.  1.) 

t  It  would  be  easy  to  add  a  host  of  other  illustrious  names  to  those 
of  Grotius  and  Leibnitz.  (See  Earruel,  Du  Pape. — Eslinger,  Apology 
for  the  Catholic  Religion  by  Protestant  Jlttthors.) 


80  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

becoming  more  numerous,  which  rapidly  thinned  the  higher 
ranks  of  protestantism. 

Protestant  ecclesiastical  historians,  as  Basnage  and  Mosh- 
eim,  have  not  failed  to  make  great  efforts  to  disprove  antiquity 
and  forcibly  impose  upon  the  Church  of  the  first  ages  the 
democratic  regime  which  they  found  in  their  sects.  Even  in 
our  day  a  celebrated  Protestant  professor  of  history  has  been 
bold  enough  to  write,  with  rare  contempt  of  historical  evi- 
dence, that  "  in  the  early  times,  Christian  society  appears  as 
a  pure  association  of  common  faith  and  sentiments.  No  sys- 
tem of  prescribed  doctrine  is  found  iu  it,  no  collection  of 
rules  or  discipline,  no  body  of  magistrates  ....  It  is  not 
until  later  that  magistrates  appeared,  who  were  called  some 
elders,  who  have  become  priests ;  others,  inspectors,  who 
have  become  bishops ;  others,  deacons.* 

*  M.  Guizot,  Cours  cTHistoire  Moderne,  182S,  2e  lec,on,  pag.  23,  20. 
&c. — It  is  probable  that  the  celebrated  professor  did  not  know,  in  1828, 
of  the  existence  of  the  New  Testament;  for  with  his  well  known 
acute  perspicuity  he  would  have  understood  that  there  was  a  monu- 
ment to  be  consulted  concerning  the  primitive  organisation  of  Christian 
society,  and  he  would  certainly  have  seen  that  in  the  early  ages,  quite, 
in  the  early  ages,  there  were  Bishops  established  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  govern  the  Church,  and  priests  established  by  the  dpost/es  to  pre- 
side, and  deacons  added  by  them  to  the  priests  and  bishops.  He  would 
have  seen  by  all  that  the  Apostles  (in  particular  St.  Paul,  in  his  let- 
ters to  Timothy  and  Titus)  say  to  the  Bishops  and  the  faithful  con- 
cerning their  reciprocal  relations — that  the  relation  of  the  first,  with 
regard  to  the  second,  was  as  independent  and  imperative  as  it  has  been 
since.  Joining  to  these  data  those  which  he  would  easily  have  found 
in  the  ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  earliest  times,  such  as  St.  Clement, 
Pope,  St.  Ignatius  and  St.  Polycarp  in  their  letters,  and  Hermas  in  the 
book  of  The  Shepherd,  &c.  &c.,  M.  Guizot  could  have  formed  a  just  idea 
of  the  primitive  constitution  of  the  Church,  and  he  would  have  spared 
himself  the  absurd  fable  of  that  Church  passing  from  the  state  of  pure 
association  to  the  state  of  Presbyterian  democracy,  from  this  demo- 
cracy to  Episcopal  aristocracy,  and  from  this  to  Pontifical  monarchy, 
a  fable  eagerly  received  by  the  Matters,  Michelets  and  other  collegiate 


HISTORICAL    FOUNDATIONS    OF    CATHOLICISM.      81 

Happily,  history  is  less  flexible  than  the  Bible  in  the  hands 
of  those  who  are  interested  to  corrupt  it.  It  would  be  easier 
to  demolish  the  Alps  than  to  efface  from  the  annals  of  Chris- 
tianity the  profound  traces  which  the  Catholic  hierarchy  in 
every  age  has  left  there.  Two  English  writers,  celebrated 
for  their  antiquarian  knowledge,  Beveridge  and  Pearson, 
have  joined  the  Catholic  writers  in  destroying  the  fabrica- 
tions of  Basnage  and  Mosheim,  and  bringing  to  light  the 
episcopal  omnipotence  of  the  ecclesiastical  government  in 
the  time  of  the  Apostles. 

If  at  this  remote  epoch,  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
the  governors  and  governed  is  less  prominent,  if  the  union 
of  the  faithful  to  the  pastors  is  closer,  the  reason  lies  evi- 
dently in  the  state  of  warfare  which  obliged  the  ranks  to 
press  closely  without  mingling,  and  in  the  fervor  of  the  faith- 
ful and  their  application  to  divine  things,  which  rendered 
them  more  worthy  of  being  heard  in  religious  matters  and 
less  subject  to  be  absorbed  by  authority ;  for  the  latter  only 
appears  and  raises  its  voice  when  the  subject  becomes 
headstrong  and  bewildered. 

This  last  consideration  has  been  developed  by  a  skilful 
controversialist,  who  makes  it  very  clearly  seen,  "that  Bishops 
have  not  been  elevated,  but  that  the  people  have  sunk ;  so 

fabricators  of  history.  But  the  following  is  the  method  of  these  gen- 
tlemen :  upon  the  authority  of  their  true  grand-master  Voltaire,  they 
all  start  from  this  principle,  that  the  Church  is  the  work  of  priestly 
ambition,  and  setting  aside  historical  monuments,  which  is  a  great 
abridgment  of  labor,  they  explain  as  best  they  can,  the  formation  of 
this  work  of  darkness.  Innocent  youth  whom  monopoly  enchains  around 
their  chairs,  receives  with  applause  these  conscientious  historical  sum- 
maries, and  the  University  Press  reproduces  by  thousands  the  summa- 
ries with  the  applauses.  (See  Guizot,  6e  legon,  p.  23.)  Thus  the 
world  is  filled  and  steeped  in  follies  and  falsehoods.  (Montaigne, 
Essais,  11,  12.) 

• 


82  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

that  the  former  must  necessarily  appear  more  powerful  and 
at  a  higher  elevation  than  before.* 

The  pacific  and  undisputed  manifestation  of  Pontifical  and 
Episcopal  authority  at  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, when  the  state  of  the  Church  and  the  aggressions  of 
great  heresies  rendered  it  possible  and  necessary,  evidently 
shows  that  the  divine  institution  of  the  authority  of  both  was 
a  universally  recognised  fact.  If  there  had  been  the  least 
doubt  on  this  subject,  the  priest,  Arius,  and  his  numerous  par- 
tisans, instead  of  agitating  the  world  for  more  than  a  century, 
in  order  to  gain  to  their  party  the  Pontiff  of  Rome  and  his 
brethren  in  the  episcopacy,  would  not  have  failed  to  reproach 
the  latter  with  their  recent  origin  and  the  unjust  domination 
which  they  had  arrogated  to  themselves  in  the  Church. 

But  why  insist  more  on  a  fact  fully  established  by  Catholic 
controversialists,  and  acknowledged  by  the  majority  of 
Protestant  writers  ?  f 

Having  examined  the  immoveable  foundations  of  the  Catho- 
lic principle  in  evangelical  and  Christian  history,  let  us  exa 
mine  its  intimate  relation  to  the  general  plan  of  Providence 
in  the  government  of  the  world,  the  nature  of  religious  truth, 

and  the  wants  of  man. 

* 

*  Moehler,  Unity  of  the  Church,  or  the  Catholic  principle  accord- 
ing to  the  writings  of  the  Fathers  of  the  first  three  centuries,  Tubin- 
gen, 1825,  book  ii.  ch.  1. 

f  See  VEglise  Romaine  reconnue.  toujours  des  Luthiriens  et  des 
pretendus  reformts  pour  vraie  Eglise  de  Jisus  Christ,  par  le  P. 
Bernard  Meynier. 


HARMONY    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE.          83 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

HARMONY    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE    WITH    THE    GEN- 
ERAL   8YSTE3I    OF    THE    DIVINE    GOVERNMENT. 

Is  it  really  credible,  it  is  asked,  that  God,  purposing  to  give 
a  religion  to  the  world,  has  entrusted  it  to  a  few  men,  and 
conferred  on  them  the  enormous  privilege  of  infallibility,  and 
obliged  the  human  race  to  receive  from  their  mouth  the 
Divine  gift  of  truth  ?  Would  it  not  have  been  more  worthy 
of  the  common  Father  of  men  to  communicate  himself  to  all 
his  children,  and  to  enable  every  one,  in  a  matter  so  important, 
to  depend  upon  himself? 

We  will  not  notice  the  impropriety  of  thus  boldly  summon- 
ing God  to  an  account,  and  the  inconsistency  into  which  these 
inquirers  fall,  when  they  propose  to  substitute  innumerable 
individual  revelations  for  one  single  revelation  which  they  find 
it  so  difficult  to  believe,  and  when  they  are  ready  to  recognise 
in  every  one  the  enormous  prerogative  of  infallibility.  It  is 
that  pride  which  ever  says :  "  My  God,  I  will  obey ;  but  before 
commanding,  take  my  orders." 

God,  indeed,  had  the  right  to  make  religion  a  purely  indi- 
vidual and  direct  relation  between  himself  and  man ;  but  this 
would  have  really  been  an  anomaly  in  his  government.  We 
need  only  open  our  eyes  to  see  that  the  intervention  of  man 
between  man  and  God  everywhere  takes  place  in  the  natural 
order.  The  most  precious  blessings  are  transmitted  to  us 
from  heaven  only  through  human  hands. 

Existence  is  the  first  of  blessings.  The  power  to  give  it, 
to  draw  a  being  from  nothing,  is,  it  would  seem,  a  thing  evi- 
dently divine  and  incommunicable.  Yet  this  tremendous 
power  God  liberally  communicates  as  we  see.  He  has  de- 
creed that  all  men  except  the  first,  should  acknowledge  them- 
selves indebted  to  their  fellow  men  for  life. 


84  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

God  requires  that  we  should  ask  of  him  every  day  our  daily 
bread,  and  the  numerous  necessaries  of  life ;  but  it  is  through 
the  intervention  of  man  that  he  grants  our  prayer. 

It  is  God  who  governs  society,  and  causes  order,  justice, 
and  peace,  to  prevail  in  it ;  but,  even  here  he  avails  himself 
of  the  interposition  of  man,  and  the  sovereign  justly  claims  a 
part  of  the  gratitude  with  which  these  favors  inspire  us. 

It  is  God  who  dispenses  talents  and  knowledge;  but  the 
preceptor  comes  and  pre-establishes  his  right  of  culture,  and 
there  is  no  genius  who  must  not  submit  himself  to  instruction, 
and  acknowledge  himself  the  disciple  of  man. 

If  God  accomplishes  so  many  and  so  great  things  by  man, 
in  the  natural  order,  why  should  he  not  do  the  same  in  the 
religious  order,  which  is  also  natural  ? 

The  aim  of  Divine  Providence,  in  establishing  among  men 
a  hierarchical  dependence,  is  evidently  to  bind  them  to  each 
other,  by  the  chain  of  gratitude  and  love,  and  thus  to  prepare 
them  for  the  eternal  tie  which  must  unite  them  one  day  in  the 
bosom  of  the  heavenly  Father. 

Would  a 'purely  individual  religion  attain  this  end?  or, 
rather,  would  it  not  be  directly  opposed  to  it,  since  its  inevi- 
table effect  would  be  the  isolation  of  minds  and  hearts  ?  The 
religious  tie,  which  can  alone  reach  what  is  deepest  and  most 
active  in  us — thought  and  sentiment,  was  then  much  more 
necessary  for  the  realization  of  the  divine  plan  than  the  tie  of 
flesh  and  blood  and  social  interest  The  latter,  when  it  exists 
alone,  can  only  form  among  men  materials  and  ephemeral 
aggregations,  differing  little  from  those  which  exist  among 
animals.  Religion,  by  harmonizing  the  interest  and  will, 
forms  one  single  human,  that  is  to  say,  moral  society. 

I  would  recommend  this  point  of  view  to  men  of  reflection  ; 
and,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  the  two  following  truths  shining  forth 
in  all  the  clearness  of  evidence. 

I.  Religion,  being  essentially  social,  needs,  as  every  society 


HARMONY    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE.          85 

a  hierarchy  of  powers  destined  to  maintain  and  propagate  it ; 
and  religion  cannot  be  a  divine  institution,  if  this  hierarchy  is 
not  equally  so,  for  God  does  nothing  by  halves.  What  man, 
then,  could  of  himself  command  the  thought  of  man  ?  * 

II.  The  Protestant  principle,  by  making  of  religion  a  pri- 
vate affair  between  God  and  the  individual,  falsifies  the  divine 
system,  introduces  materialism  into  society,  and  takes  from  it 
its  moral  character. 

If,  leaving  the  material  and  political  order,  we  cast  our  eye 
on  the  religious  order  in  ancient  times,  we  see  primitive 
Christianity  emerging  from  Eden,  and  advancing  through  the 
ages  supported  upon  the  Catholic  principle  of  authority  and 
tradition. 

It  is  through  the  intervention  of  some  holy  patriarchs,  alone 
honored  with  his  communications,  that  God  instructed  the  peo- 
ple, and  he  referred  them  constantly  to  the  teaching  of  their 

*  The  celebrated  professor  of  history  whom  we  have  quoted  above, 
has  very  clearly  seen  the  commencement  of  this  truth  ;  and  in  a  lecture 
in  which  he  refutes,  without  naming  him,  one  of  his  fellow-religionists, 
M.  Benjamin  Constant,  De  la  Religion  consideree,  &c.),  he  demon- 
strates that  the  religious  sentiment  is.  not  the  complete  expression  of 
the  religious  nature  of  man,  .  .  .  that  the  religious  society  inevi- 
tably springs  from  the  essential  elements  of  religion,  .  .  .  that  the. 
necessity  of  authority,  of  a  government  is  implied  in  the  fact  of  the 
existence  of  this  society,  &c.  (See  M.  Guizot,  Cours  d'Histoire 
Moderne,  le§on  5th.  It  may  be  asked,  why,  after  having  seen  this, 
M.  Guizot  has  not  perceived  the  logically  inevitable  consequence  of 
his  principle :  that  all  power  necessary  to  the  existence  of  a  true  and 
divine  religion,  is  essentially  divine  and  infallible ;  for,  if  it  were  not 
so,  what  would  it  be  ?  It  would  be  the  power  (legitimate,  since  it  is 
necessary)  to  lead  men  into  error,  with  the  obligation  on  their  part 
(all  legitimate  power  compels)  to  allow  themselves  to  be  deceived  con- 
cerning the  important  subject  of  their  eternal  destiny.  This  was 
too  striking  to  escape  so  practised  an  eye;  but  .  .  .  How  many  con- 
troversies would  end,  said  Fenelon,  if  every  one  was  compelled  to  say 
wh:U  he  thinks ! 

VOL.    II.  8 


86  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

fathers.*  It  is  to  two  or  three  he  entrusts  his  word,  the  spi- 
ritual food  of  a  thousand  generations.^ 

If  ever  a  law  existed,  in  connection  with  which  writing 
played  an  important  part,  it  was  the  law  of  Moses,  whose 
least  prescriptions  were  faithfully  registered,  and  were,  ac- 
cording to  the  command  of  the  Lord,  to  be  read  every  seven 
years  in  a  general  assembly  of  the  people.J  If  there  was 
ever  a  society  which  God  governed  immediately,  and  ren- 
dered himself  present  to  each  individual,  it  was  the  Jewish 
society.  Yet,  between  the  ark,  which  is  his  throne,  and  the 
people,  he  placed  the  tribe  of  Levi,  alone  charged  with  ex- 
plaining and  directing  the  execution  of  the  written  ceremonial 
law,  and  of  transmitting  with  it  the  additional  dogmas  of 
which  the  written  law  was  only  the  envelope.^ 

In  difficult  questions  of  a  high  order,  whose  decision  tran- 
scended the  power  of  the  sacerdotal  class,  the  Prophet,  the 
Seer  interposed,  and  his  word,  equally  respected  by  the  Pon- 
tiff and  the  people,  removed  doubt  and  preserved  unity.|| 

The  perfect  harmony,  then,  between  the  Catholic  principle 
and  the  general  system  of  the  Creator  in  the  material  and 
moral  administration  of  the  world,  is  manifest.  As  to  the 
objections  of  pride  against  the  exorbitant  prerogative  of  in- 
fallibility, we  shall  answer  them  when  we  examine  the  Catho- 
lic principles  and  its  opposite,  in  their  connection  with  human 
dignity. 

*  Deuter.  xxxii.  7. 

f  Verbi  quod  mandavit  in  mille  generationes.     (Ps.  civ.  8.) 
J  Deuter.  xxxi.  10,  11,  12. 

§  On  the  existence  of  oral  instruction  and  religious  tradition  among 
the  Jews.     See  Wiseman,  Confer,  iii. 
||  I.  Machab.  iv.  46.— ix.  25.— xiv.  43. 


WEAKNESS    OF    THE    INTELLECT.  87 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

MYSTERIOUS   CHARACTER  OF  TRUTH. WEAKNESS   OF  THE  IN- 
TELLECT.  NECESSITY  FOR  AN  INFALLIBLE  AUTHORITY. 

TRUTH  must  be  strangely  dazzling  and  of  a  very  deceitful 
aspect,  since  every  man  natters  himself  that  he  sees  it,  and 
yet  all  see  it  differently. 

Consult  the  seers  of  philosophy,  not  upon  questions  of  a 
higher  order,  but  on  the  elements  of  philosophy :  ask  them, 
for  instance,  what  is  truth,  that  wisdom  whose  heralds  they 
assume  to  be ;  what  are  the  true  characteristics  of  its  divine 
physiognomy,  how  can  it  be  discriminated  from  its  unseemly 
rival,  error ;  they  will  all  begin  to  discourse,  in  emulation  of 
each  other,  and  contradicting  each  other ;  and  you  will  have 
reason  to  conclude  that  none  of  these  personages  has  ever 
received  the  slightest  glimpse  of  the  beautiful  unknown. 

If  only  one  question  of  this  kind  is  needed  to  confound  the 
most  powerful  intellects,  how  could  these  same  intellects 
grasp  and  master  religious  questions !  Powerless  to  define 
the  simplest  philosophic  truth,  would  they  be  less  incapable 
of  embracing  all  divine  truths !  What  can  we  think,  then,  of 
those  who  attribute  to  man,  and  even  to  all  men,  the  power 
of  judging  in  religious  matters! — "They  are  madmen,"  said 
a  man  of  genius,  "  whose  folly  resembles  that  of  a  child 
who  strives  to  touch  the  heavens  with  his  hand,  or  asks  for 
the  moon  as  a  toy."* 

I  shall  be  told  that  it  is  not  demanded  to  draw  from  heaven 
truths  buried  in  the  secrecy  of  the  Divine  thought  but  to  dis- 
cover in  the  Bible  truths  already  revealed  and  brought  to 
light;  that  there  is  a  great  difference  between  inventing  a 

*  Words  of  Napoleon  in  a  conversation  with  Gen.  Bertrand  upon 
the  divinity  of  Jesus. 


88  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

religious  system,  and  finding  in  a  book  that  system  already 
complete  ;  that  in  this  last  consists  the  task  of  the  Protestant. 

Let  us  imagine,  contrary  to  what  we  have  already  seen, 
that  the  Bible  positively  contains  all  divine  doctrines;  in 
what  condition  do  wo  find  them  ?  Which  of  the  thirteen 
hundred  chapters  of  the  Bible  presents  a  complete  system  of 
religion  ?  What  chapter  announces  in  terms  as  clear  and 
intelligible  as  our  catechisms  all  things  to  be  believed  and 
practised  ?  This  chapter  does  not  exist. 

Doctrinal  and  moral  truths  are  scattered  and  lie  in  confu- 
sion in  the  vast  depths  of  the  Sacred  Books,  as  fishes  and 
shells  in  the  unfathomable  caves  of  the  ocean.  We  see  them 
both  appear  and  glitter  on  the  surface ;  but  who  can  discover 
their  innumerable  relations  to  each  other  in  the  abyss,  and  the 
immensely  graduated  series  of  which  they  are  only  imper- 
ceptible fractions? 

Naturalists  will  have  given  us  a  complete  Ichthyology, 
before  the  interpreter  of  the  Bible,  abandoned  to  his  own 
powers,  will  be  able  to  give  us  a  dogmatic  and  moral  theo- 
logy, in  which  there  is  nothing  excessive,  and  nothing  wanting. 

Every  man  who  attempts  to  penetrate  into  the  labyrinth 
of  Scripture,  without  holding  in  his  hand  the  thread  of  autho- 
rity, will  inevitably  fall  into  heresy,  that  is,  he  will  elevate  a 
truth  into  a  general  axiom,  will  place  the  accessory  before 
the  principal,  will  change  a  counsel  into  a  precept,  and  by 
this  displacement  alone,  will  transform  the  most  admirable 
evangelical  maxims  into  as  many  detestable  errors. 

We  give  up  our  understanding  to  the  first  idea  that  takes 
possession  of  it,  and  whatever  refuses  to  follow  in  the  train 
of  this  favorite  is  for  us  as  if  it  were  not.  Do  we  not  see 
this  in  heretics,  those  miserable  half  blind  beings  exclusively 
pre-occupied  with  one  Biblical  text  and  making  absurd  efforts 
to  empty  the  ocean  into  a  cockle  shell  ? 

It  may  be  objected  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  define  religion 


WEAKNESS    OF    THE    INTELLECT.  SO 

so  precisely,  that  faith  does  not  subtilise,  but  believes  and 
adores,  &c.  Faith  believes  and  adores!  but  in  order  not  to 
believe  blindly,  it  would  seem  needful  to  discern,  in  some 
manner,  the  object  of  belief;  to  adore  without  idolatry,  we 
must  know  whether  what  we  adore  is  God  or  the  work  of 
the  imagination. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  define  religion  so  exactly!  It  is  reli- 
gion, more  than  all  things  which  must  be  defined,  about  which 
we  must  have  just,  fixed  and  precise  ideas ;  for  here  volun- 
tary ignorance  is  criminal,  error  may  be  dangerous,  and  doubt 
is  sinful.  Without  definitions,  how  is  the  restless  activity  of 
the  human  mind  to  be  checked  which  finds  vagueness  insup- 
portable, and  which,  if  it  cannot  repose  in  the  bosom  of 
truth,  falls  soon  from  lassitude  into  the  arms  of  skepticism. 

You  who  have  destroyed  the  power  of  defining,  by  bestow- 
ing it  on  every  one,  cast  your  eye  around  you ;  what  do  you 
discover  in  your  Churches  without  a  head  ?  here  the  yawning 
of  stupid  indifference,  there  the  restlessness  of  men  who  are 
always  seeking  and  never  finding,*  elsewhere  the  transports 
of  blind  fanaticism,  no  where  the  noble  and  peaceful  attitude 
of  the  Christian  who  believes,  adores,  loves,  hopes  and  defies 
the  waves  of  doubt  sustained  by  the  immoveable  anchor  of 
faith. 

To  conclude.  If  the  Bible  is  not  destined  to.  lead  the 
world  through  interminable  religious  discussions  into  a  de- 
cided contempt  for  all  religion ;  if,  on  the  contrary  it  is  a 
divine  code  which  is  to  elevate  the  mind  and  heart  to  the 
height  of  creative  thought,  and  teach  us  how  to  move  on 
according  to  the  plan  of  the  eternal  legislator,  nothing  evi- 
dently is  more  necessary  than  an  interpreter  to  organise  the 
chaos  of  these  laws,  point  out  to  us  their  essential  elements, 
and  relieve  us  from  all  fear  of  error  in  the  application  of  them 
to  our  thoughts  and  actions. 

*  II.  Tim.  iii.  7. 
8* 


90      THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 


But  who  is  this  interpreter.  Where  is  the  individual  or 
collective  being  humanly  capable  of  lifting  the  thick  veil  from 
the  Scriptures,  and  compressing  the  Divine  thought  strongly 
enough  to  extract  the  essence  of  it  without  perverting  it,  and 
pour  the  substance  of  it  into  the  narrowest  brain  ?  This  is 
evidently  a  superhuman  task. 

Whoever  admits  that  the  Scripture  is  the  work  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  must  also  admit  that  the  Spirit  of  God  alone 
can  secure  the  right  understanding  of  it,  and  to  be  consistent 
he  must  choose  between  these  two  systems :  either  to  grant 
to  every  individual  the  gift  of  inspiration,  like  the  Quakers, 
Swedenborgians  and  Methodists,  and  of  course  deify  all  the 
extravagances  which  can  enter  the  human  head ;  or  recog- 
nise, with  Catholics,  the  existence  of  a  divinely  assisted  public 
magistrate  who  has  the  right  to  preface  his  decrees  with :  It 
hath  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  us.* 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

ABSURD    TASK    WHICH    PROTESTANTISM    IMPOSES    OX   YOUTH. 

DISAVOWAL    OF   ITS    THEORY   IN    PRACTICE,    AND    THE 

HOMAGE    WHICH    IT    RENDERS   TO    THE 

CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE. 

IF  there  is  anything  necessary  for  man  on  his  entrance 
into  the  world,  it  is  doubtless  to  find  the  world  already  com- 
plete and  moving  towards  its  end  with  more  or  less  success. 
The  newly  born,  would,  indeed,  be  worthy  of  compassion, 
if  falling  into  a  society  in  ashes,  he  should  be  obliged  to  seek 
for  himself  a  nurse,  connect  this  nurse  with  a  family,  unite 
this  family  to  society,  and  give  this  society  an  organisation. 

*  Act.  Ap.  xv.  28. 


INFLUENCE    OF    PROTESTANTISM    ON    YOT7TH.      91 


Very  fortunately  this  case  is  unheard  of.  Man  is  born  into 
the  bosom  of  a  family,  of  a  society,  and  finds  himself  in 
relations  previously  established  with  his  kind.  He  accepts 
without  difficulty  the  existing  order,  and  if  he  is  led  away 
by  a  desire  to  change  it,  it  is  only  later,  when  the  passions 
become  clamorous  under  the  restraint  of  duty. 

But  man  is  also  a  religious  being :  if  he  has  necessary 
relations  with  his  fellow  men,  he  has  no  less  essential  ones 
with  the  Creator  to  whom  he  will  one  day  be  accountable 
for  all  the  actions  of  his  life.  Who  will  teach  him  all  these 
relations  and  instruct  him  how  to  maintain  them  ?  Would 
the  same  Providence  which  spares  the  child  the  pain  of  form- 
ing for  himself  a  family  and  a  society,  impose  on  him  the 
heavy  task  of  constructing  for  himself  a  religion  ? 

Could  this  chaos  which  we  have  imagined  in  the  civil  order, 
exist  in  the  religious  order ;  and  should  every  dunce  arrived 
at  the  age  of  reason  be  obliged  to  arrange  it  and  by  a  crea- 
tive fiat,  extort  from  it  a  religious  system  for  his  own  use, 
under  pain  of  living  and  dying  an  atheist !  Without  doubt, 
if  the  principle  of  Protestants  is  adopted  that  there  is  no 
divinely  organised  religious  community  and  that  in  religion 
every  one  must  be  his  own  father. 

According  to  this  hypothesis,  every  youth  who  has  not  yet 
attained  to  sufficient  necessary  maturity  of  thought  and  extent 
of  Biblical  knowledge  to  found  a  religion  is,  according  to 
reason,  freed  from  all  religious  belief  and  moral  rule ;  he  can 
be  an  idolater,  deist,  materialist,  skeptic,  atheist,  everything 
except  a  Christian. 

It  may  be  said :  The  child  should  follow  the  religion  of  the 
father,  until  he  is  convinced  that  it  is  false.  Upon  what 
could  this  obligation  be  founded,  I  would  ask,  and  how  could 
it  be  reconciled  with  the  principle  of  the  Reformation?  If 
it  is  acknowledged  that  there  is  a  religion  obligatory  before 
all  examination,  either  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  a  legi- 


92  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

timate  religious  society  exists,  that  is,  a  divine  soeiety,  to 
which  we  are  subjected  by  baptism,  as  \ve  are  subjected  by 
the  fact  of  birth  to  civil  society,  as  is  taught  by  Catholicism  ; 
or  confess  that  God  orders  the  child  to  adopt  a  false  religion, 
which  would  be  obviously  absurd. 

The  child  must  follow  the  religion  of  the  father!  but,  will 
the  loyal  Protestant  impose  on  his  child  his  own  religion, 
allowing  that  he  has  one,  with  that  absolute  authority  of  the 
Catholic  father,  who,  teaching  nothing  but  the  doctrines  of 
the  universal  Church,  can  speak  with  the  assurance  of  a  pope 
or  a  council  ?  If  he  does  so,  he  deceives  his  child ;  and  the 
latter,  once  enlightened,  will  see  in  the  religion  of  his  child- 
hood only  an  unworthy  artifice,  and  in  his  father  only  an 
impostor. 

Does  the  father,  on  the  contrary,  admonish  the  child  of  the 
serious  obligation  which  he  is  under  to  read  the  Bible,  and 
construct  for  himself  a  religion  ?  He  can  say  to  him  nothing 
more  than  this :  "  My  child,  you  must  have  a  religion,  if  you 
would  not  sink  beneath  the  brute:  that  religion  God  has 
vouchsafed  to  give  us,  it  is  here  (showing  him  the  Bible). 
He  directs  you  to  find  it  there ;  but,  while  you  are  making 
the  necessary  investigations  in  order  to  know  what  to  deter- 
mine on  concerning  your  duties  towards  God,  your  parents, 
your  fellow-men,  and  yourself,  I  give  you  a  summary  of  the 
divine  ordinances,  such  as  I  believe  them  to  be :  Thou  shalt 
worship  one  God,  &c. 

"  I  exhort  you,  my  child,  to  follow  these  rules  of  conduct, 
which  you  will  afterwards  find,  I  trust,  entirely  conformable  to 
the  divine  word  and  to  the  light  of  reason.  If  I  have  deceived 
myself  as  to  the  nature  of  your  obligations  as  a  Christian, 
which  is  possible,  as  every  man  is  subject  to  ignorance,  I  do 
not  believe  that  you  will  have  to  answer  for  such  an  error 
before  God  or  men." 

What  father  would  be  willing  to  use  such  language!     A 


INFLUENCE  OF  PROTESTANTISM  ON  YOUTH.   93 

singular  religion,  which  a  father  must  conceal  from  his  chil- 
dren under  pain  of  abandoning  them  unrestrainedly  to  the 
corruption  of  their  desires. 

Let  us  imagine  the  child  docile  enough,  meanwhile,  to 
adopt  the  religious  creed  of  the  father.  The  time  will  come 
for  transforming  these  prejudices  into  personal  convictions,  or 
rejecting  them  as  the  remains  of  papacy.  At  what  epoch 
will  this  formidable  task  be  undertaken  ?  Probably  between 
the  age  of  fifteen  and  twenty ;  for  the  interim  must  heartily 
oppress  a  youth  who  comprehends  the  extreme  importance  of 
the  religious  question,  and  who  feels  how  weak  is  a  hypo- 
thetical opinion  against  the  most  violent  assaults  of  the 
passions. 

It  is,  then,  in  the  most  turbulent  season  of  life  that  this  in- 
finitely complex  and  far-reaching  question  must  be  solved ;  the 
examination  of  which  demands  serenity  of  soul,  and  the  ab- 
solute silence  of  the  passions !  It  is  at  an  age  when  no  legis- 
lation recognises  in  man  the  necessary  capacity  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  a  family,  much  less  for  public  affairs ;  it  is  at 
this  age,  I  repeat,  that  he  must  comprehend,  with  perfect 
exactness,  the  innumerable  and  mysterious  relations  which 
connect  man  with  his  Creator  and  with  his  fellow-men,  and, 
in  one  word,  construct  for  himself  a  religion. 

The  color  rises,  and  one  can  hardly  control  his  feelings,  in 
view  of  such  frightful  absurdities. 

It  must  however,  be  confessed,  that  men  are  better  than 
their  systems.  If  there  were  found,  in  the  16th  century,  two 
beings  insane  and  perverse  enough  to  advance  a  principle  _ 
destructive  of  all  religion,  all  morality,  all  social  order,  history 
obliges  us  to  acknowledge,  that  these  same  men  availed 
themselves  of  all  human  power,  including  the  executive,  to 
prevent  the  immediate  consequences  of  their  principles,  and 
to  bring  under  their  rod  the  people,  whom  they  had  released 
from  the  divine  control  of  the  Church.  Experience  shows  us 


94  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  unfortunate  victims  of  the  Reformation  practically  ab- 
juring the  fundamental  principle  of  it.  Every  Protestant 
father  becomes  a  Catholic  in  the  religious  instruction  he  gives 
his  family.  Every  minister  is  the  pope  among  his  flock. 
Every  uncorruptecl  child  trusts,  with  Catholic  docility,  to  the 
words  of  his  father  and  the  minister. 

Protestants,  then,  receive  the  fact,  while  Catholics  acknow- 
ledge the  fact  and  the  principle  of  the  absolute  necessity  that 
man,  on  his  entrance  into  life,  should  find  an  established  re- 
ligion, and  that  he  never  should  be  under  the  necessity  of 
reconstructing  it.  Both,  consequently,  demand  the  existence 
of  the  Catholic  Church ;  for  she  alone  can  say  to  the  child, 
to  the  youth,  to  the  man,  and  to  the  aged :  Believe  with  con- 
fidence my  instructions;  it  is  evident  that  I  cannot  deceive 
you  unless  God  deceives  you. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

OBJECTION. HOW  THE   CATHOLIC   BELIEVES  IX  THE  CHURCH. 

THE  existence  of  an  infallible  and  divinely  supported 
Church  is  a  fact  so  notorious  and  so  palpable,  that  it  may 
reasonably  be  admitted  before  any  examination.  Can  this 
fact  have  any  other  testimony  than  the  word  of  Jesus  Christ 
recorded  in  Scripture,  and  is  it  not  upon  this  word  that  the 
Catholic  Church  founds  her  claim  to  the  obedience  of  the 

I 

faithful  ?  But,  if  faith  in  Scripture  logically  precedes  faith  in 
the  Church,  is  it  not  plain  that  the  Catholic,  as  well  as  the 
Protestant,  is  obliged  to  acquire,  by  his  personal  efforts,  a 
conviction  of  the  authenticity  and  inspiration  of  the  Scrip- 
tures? Is  he  not  obliged  to  constitute  himself  judge  of  their 
true  sense,  at  least  in  passages  relative  to  the  institution  and 


OBJECTION  OF  PROTESTANTS.          95 

prerogatives  of  the  Church  ?  He  must,  then,  be  a  sceptic  for 
twenty  or  thirty  years,  and  condemned  to  pass  half  his  life 
in  study  (ch.  12,  13).  If  he  receives  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures  on  the  faith  of  the  Church,  and  believes  afterwards 
in  the  Church,  on  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  it  is  evident 
that  he  revolves  in  a  vicious  circle,  and  destroys  every  rational 
foundation  of  his  faith. 

I  think  I  have  here  exposed,  in  all  itg  power,  the  most 
specious  objection  of  Protestants  to  the  Catholic  principle; 
an  objection  to  which  they  are  so  much  attached,  that,  not- 
withstanding the  most  decided  answers  a  hundred  times  given, 
they  are  never  weary  of  reproducing  it  with  signs  of  triumph; 
yet  a  very  sad  triumph  if  it  were  real !  for,  what  would  follow 
if  it  were  proved  that  no  one  could  reasonably  believe  in 
the  Gospel,  if  he  did  not  first  devote  himself  to  impossible 
studies.  It  would  follow  that  Christianity  would  be  an 
odious  absurdity,  and  that  we  should  envy  the  Chinese  the 
art  of  transforming  into  shoes  the  Bible  and  the  numerous 
books  which  the  Bible  has  produced. 

Fortunately,  it  is  not  so ;  and  the  objection  we  have  no- 
ticed will  no  more  prevent  the  judicious  Catholic  from  be- 
lieving at  all  times  in  the  Church,  than  the  sophisms  of  Zeno 
against  motion  have  prevented  men  from  walking. 

Let  us  follow  the  Catholic  from  the  time  of  leaving  his 
cradle  until  he  enters,  full  of  days,  into  his  eternal  mansion, 
and  we  shall  see  if,  through  this  long  career,  he  ever  finds 
himself  necessarily  wanting  in  the  faith  of  a  believer,  or  the 
reason  of  a  philosopher. 

There  is  no  difficulty  during  the  first  years.  Having  no 
thoughts  of  his  own,  and  instinctively  subject  to  domestic 
authority,  the  only  thing  which  exists  for  him,  the  child  ne- 
cessarily adopts  the  religious  notions  which  are  presented  to 
him,  and  every  one  knows  the  influence  of  first-received 
impressions. 


90  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

To  the  very  powerful  action  of  external  teaching  is  added 
the  still  more  powerful  interior  influence  of  the  Divine  Muster, 
who  opens  the  mind  and  heart  to  the  understanding  and  love 
of  divine  truths,  at  the  same  time  that  the  human  master  in- 
troduces them  by  the  ear.  The  Church,  in  fact,  teaches, 
conformably  to  Scripture,  that  faith  is  a  celestial  gift,  and 
that,  in  the  baptismal  regeneration,  the  Holy  Spirit,  uniting 
our  soul  to  itself,  produces  in  it  a  supernatural  disposition  to 
grasp  and  taste  religious  truths — a  disposition  which  needs 
nothing  for  its  development  but  external  instruction.  If  the 
latter  is  conformable  to  the  truth,  as  it  is  in  the  true  Church, 
the  divine  influence  of  grace  is  combined  with  the  human  in- 
fluence of  language  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  faith  of  the 
child ;  and  what  chances  of  durability  are  there  for  an  edifice 
raised  by  the  united  efforts  of  God  and  man  !* 

At  the  moment  when  passing  out  of  the  domestic  circle,  the 
child  perceives  that  the  universe  is  larger  than  his  family, 
what  does  he  see  around  him  which  is  not  adapted  to  confirm 
his  first  faith  ?  Led  to  the  house  of  God  on  holy  days,  he 
unites  with  the  religious  society.  He  sees  the  doctrine  which 
he  has  received  from  his  mother's  mouth,  descending  from 
the  pulpit  upon  an  attentive  and  thoughtful  people.  The 
prayer  that  he  repeats  every  day  before  the  crucifix  and  the 
venerated  image  of  Mary,  he  hears  rising  from  innumerable 
lips  towards  heaven,  in  the  midst  of  clouds  of  incense. 

*  It  is  well  to  remark  here  the  great  difference  of  religious  education 
between  the  child  born  in  the  true  church,  and  one  who  has  the  mis- 
fortune to  be  educated  in  heresy.  The  latter,  innocent  of  the  crime  ot 
his  parents,  whilst  he  is  invincibly  ignorant  of  their  rebellion  against 
the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  receives  without  doubt  in  baptism  the 
supernatural  gift  of  faith  ;  but  the  teaching  of  the  parents  offering  to 
the  intellect  of  the  child  only  a  corrupted  doctrine,  the  divine  influence 
is  neutralized,  God  being  incapable  of  seconding  error.  Hence  religi- 
ous instruction  is  only  the  work  of  man,  and  rests  on  the  fragile  found- 
ation of  flesh  and  blood. 


OBJECTION  OF  PROTESTANTS.          97 

What  commands  his  attention  most,  in  the  temple,  is  the 
mysterious  person  of  the  priest,  the  spiritual  father  of  the 
whole  parish,  and  with  whom  he  is  about  to  form  the  most 
intimate  relations,  at  catechism,  where,  during  many  years, 
he  is  to  receive,  with  children  of  his  own  age,  the  milk  of  the 
divine  word ;  or  at  the  confessional,  where  he  will  reveal  the 
most  secret  movements  of  his  heart.  It  is  to  the  priest  that 
he  is  indebted,  and  he  is  reminded  of  it  by  the  sight  of  the 
sacred  font,  for  the  sublime  title  of  the  child  of  God  and  the 
Church ;  it  is  from  his  sacred  hand  that  he  awaits  the  mys- 
terious sacrament  which  is  to  unite  him  intimately  to  his 
Creator.  Great  is  the  influence  of  the  pastor  over  his  spiri- 
tual child.  Napoleon,  on  his  death-bed,  confessed  to  his 
companions  in  exile,  that  the  presence  of  the  priest  had  always 
spoken  to  his  heart.  Here  let  every  one  recall  the  impres- 
sions of  his  early  days. 

But,  to  the  eye  of  the  young  Catholic,  the  religious  horizon 
extends,  and  gradually  reveals  itself  with  age.  Around  his 
parish  other  parishes  are  gathered,  living  under  the  same 
spiritual  regime.  The  common  father  of  priests  and  people, 
the  Priest  emphatically,  the  Bishop,  appears  in  the  midst  of 
joyful  chants.  The  words  of  the  Pontiff  confirm  the  uniform 
instructions  of  parents  and  priest.  His  sacred  hand  touches 
the  young  brow,  and  the  union,  before  so  close,  of  our  youth 
with  the  mystical  body  of  the  Church,  becomes  still  closer. 

Beyond  and  above  Bishops,  universal  veneration  points  out 
to  him  the  Bishop  of  Bishops,  the  universal  Pontiff,  seated 
upon  the  immoveable  chair  of  Peter,  and  forming  of  the  hun- 
dred and  sixty  millions  of  Catholics,  scattered  throughout  the 
world,  one  only -body,  animated  with  the  same  spirit,  nour- 
ished with  the  same  doctrine,  moving  towards  the  same  end. 

He  sees,  in  the  clear  light  of  history,  this  vast  society, 
which  no  visible  hand  has  formed  or  supports,  and  for  the 
destruction  of  which  all  the  known  forces  of  the  physical  and 

VOL.    II.  9 


98  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

moral  order  have  conspired,  surviving  all  human  societies, 
resisting  the  most  frightful  tempests,  and  constantly  bringing 
the  immense  majority  of  Christians  into  subjection  to  its  laws, 
so  unyielding  to  the  passions  of  men. 

Who  are  the  enemies  in  every  age  rising  up  against  the 
House  of  the  Living  God?  He  sees  odious  tyrants,  the  ene- 
mies of  all  restraint ;  proud  dreamers,  who  pretend  to  substi- 
tute their  thought  of  a  day  for  the  universal  faith ;  sectarians 
without  a  past,  without  a  future,  with  no  tie  to  bind  them  to 
each  other,  but  their  common  hatred  against  the  Catholic 
society ;  and  all  confessing,  by  the  name  they  bear,  their 
descent  from  one  man,  and  their  religious  illegitimacy. 

What  a  powerful  guarantee  against  the  assaults  of  doubt 
is  presented  to  the  Catholic  by  this  fact,  which  is  as  clear  as 
the  sun,  and  the  evidence  of  which  is  more  convincing  every 
step  we  advance  in  the  knowledge  of  the  present  and  the  past. 
He  cannot  refuse  to  believe  in  the  Church  without  saying :  In 
matters  of  religion,  I  see  more  clearly,  I  alone,  than  a  hun- 
dred and  sixty  millions  of  my  cotemporaries,  and  the  eight 
or  ten  thousand  millions  of  Catholics  who  have  preceded  me, 
all  as  interested  as  I  am  in  knowing  the  truth,  and  most  of 
them  with  better  advantages  for  becoming  acquainted  with  it ! 

The  serious  doubt  of  a  Catholic  can  only  be  explained  by 
great  ignorance  or  great  folly. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

THE   SAME    SUBJECT   CONTINUED. SECURITY   OF   THE    CATHO- 
LIC   IN    HIS    FAITH. — PERPETUAL    FLUCTUATIONS    OF 
THE  PROTESTANT. 

WE  have  just  seen  the  Catholic,  whose  religious  instruction 
has  followed  the  progress  of  his  years,  obliged,  at  all  times, 


SECURITY    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    FAITH.  99 

to  believe  in  the  Church  under  pain  of  forfeiting  his  reason. 
Where  is  the  vicious  circle  in  which  it  was  attempted  just 
now  to  entangle  him  ?  * 

It  is  the  church,  it  will  be  answered,  which  obliges  him  to 
believe  in  the  Church.  Yes,  as  the  sun  enables  him  to  see 
the  sun.  Would  you  wish  him,  then,  to  call  in  question  the 
existence  of  that  luminary,  under  pretext  that  it  is  the  witness 
in  its  own  cause?  Such  is  the  privilege  of  public  and  illus- 
trious facts :  they  enter  as  conquerors  into  the  intellect  without 
passing  through  the  obscure  and  bewildering  defiles  of  reason. 
And  for  this  reason,  the  supreme  wisdom,  which  intends  not 
that  men  should  be  restless  disputants,  carried  about,  by  every 
wind  of  doctrine,  but  peaceable  possessors  of  the  truth,  prac- 
tising it  in  lovc,\  has  founded  religion  upon  facts. 

It  is  easy  to  imagine  that  a  man,  educated  in  a  religious 
society  unfriendly  to  Rome,  and  nourished  from  his  infancy 
with  the  most  absurd  prejudices,  may  have  need  of  much 
study  and  reflection  to  convince  himself  of  the  divine  institu- 
tion of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  to  overthrow  the  framework 
of  calumnies  which  deprives  him,  in  history,  of  the  sight  of 
this  wonderful  edifice.  But,  for  the  Catholic,  whom  a  solid 
instruction  has  fortified  against  the  falsehoods  of  heresy  (a 
condition  which  I  always  pre-suppose;  for  the  sun  itself  is 

*  If  we  have  recourse  to  Scripture  in  order  to  establish  the  authority 
of  the  Church,  it  is  against  heretics  who  deny  this  authority,  but  re- 
cognise that  of  Scripture.  As  to  those  who  deny  the  authority  of  the 
Sacred  Books;  we  do  not  seek  to  prove  it  to  them  by  the  authority  of 
the  Church  which  they  do  not  acknowledge,  but  we  employ  against 
them  the  same  kind  of  demonstrations  that  Protestants  employ  against 
unbelievers  and  Jews,  the  constant  and  unanimous  testimony  of  the 
Christian  world.  '  The  authority  of  Scriptuje  once  established,  we  de- 
duce from  it  the  existence  and  the  perogatives  of  the  Church,  which 
is  entirely  logical. 

f  Et  jam  non  simus  parvuli  fluctuantes,  et  circumferamur  omni  vento 
doctrines  .  .  .  Veritatem  autem  facientes  in  chavitate.  (Ephes.  iv.  14, 13.) 


100          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

without  light  for  the  blind),  those  facts  are  incontrovertible ; 
and  there  is  no  mind  so  degraded  that  it  cannot  give  the  same 
reasons  for  its  attachment  to  the  Catholic  Church,  as  the 
great  Bishop  of  Hippo  formerly  gave.  "If  you  wish  to 
know,"  said  he  to  his  former  fellow-believers,  the  Manicheans, 
"  what  attaches  me  to  the  Catholic  Church,  it  is  this :  it  is 
the  unanimous  submission  of  the  people  and  the  nations  which 
she  governs ;  it  is  the  authority  which  she  exercises,  founded, 
without  doubt,  on  miracles  (for,  if  it  were  not,  as  he  has  said 
elsewhere,  it  would  be  the  most  astonishing  of  miracles),  an 
authority  strengthened  by  the  hope  and  peace  which  she 
establishes  in  the  soul — an  authority  propagated  by  charity, 
and  cemented  by  a  long  prescription.  What  retains  me  in  it, 
is  the  chain  of  pastors  whom  I  see  uninterruptedly  succeeding 
each  other  in  the  see  of  Peter,  from  that  apostle  to  whom 
our  Lord,  after  his  resurrection,  confided  the  care  of  his  sheep, 
even  to  the  present  Pontiff.  Finally,  what  retains  me  in  it, 
is  the  name  itself  of  Catholic,  so  appropriate  to  this  Church, 
in  the  midst  of  so  many  sects  who  envy  it  this  name,  that  if 
a  stranger  asks  where  the  Catholics  assemble,  no  heretic  will 
have  the  boldness  to  point  to  his  own  temple  or  house."  * 

To  the  irresistible  influence  which  the  external  and  pal- 
pable fact  of  the  predominance  of  Catholicity  exerts  over 
every  judicious  mind,  may  be  added  an  interior  fact,  not  less 
calculated  to  confirm  the  Catholic  in  his  submission  to  the 
Church. 

This  fact  is,  the  consciousness  which  every  sensible  man 
has  of  his  incapacity  to  construct  for  himself  a  religion  which 
may  support  him  at  the  hour  of  death ;  the  need  universally 
felt  of  reposing  on  religion,  as  in  other  important  affairs,  upon 
the  sweet  and  soothing  pillow  of  authority.  Let  us  listen  to 
one  who  had  not  a  weak  mind. 

*  Augustine,  Contra  Ep.  fund.,  cap.  iv.  Item.,  De  util.  credendi, 
cap.  vii.,  xiv.,  xvii. 


SECURITY    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    FAITH.  101 

"  The  ignorant  man  has  no  need,  either  of  books  or  rea- 
soning, in  order  to  find  the  true  Church.  The  more  ignorant 
he  is,  the  more  his  ignorance  shows  him  the  absurdity  of  the 
sects  who  would  institute  him  judge  of  what  he  is  incom- 
petent to  examine.  All  the  new  sects  say  to  him :  Do  not 
reason,  do  not  decide  ;  content  yourself  with  being  docile  and 
humble  :  God  has  promised  me  his  spirit  to  preserve  you  from 
error.  Which  should  this  ignorant  person  follow,  those  who 
demand  impossibilities  of  him,  or  those  who  promise  him  what 
is  in  harmony  with  his  incapacity  and  the  goodness  of  God  ? 
Let  us  imagine  a  paralytic  who  wishes  to  leave  his  bed, 
because  the  house  is  on  fire.  He  appeals  to  five  men,  who 
say  to  him :  Rise,  run,  pierce  the  crowd,  save  yourself  from 
the  conflagration.  At  last,  he  finds  a  sixth  man,  who  says  to 
him :  Depend  on  me,  I  will  carry  you  in  my  arms.  Will  he 
trust  to  the  five  men,  who  advise  him  to  do  what  he  feels  he 
cannot  do  ?  Will  he  not  rather  confide  in  him  who  alone 
promises  him  assistance  proportioned  to  his  weakness?  He 
abandons  himself,  without  reasoning,  to  this  man,  z  id  only 
lies  yielding  and  docile  in  his  arms.  Free  yourself  from  »:. 
evidently  impracticable  discussion,  cast  off  foolish  presump- 
tion, and  you  will  be  a  Catholic."* 

Thus,  while  everything  within  and  without  conspires  to 
throw  the  reflecting  Protestant  into  inextricable  embarrass- 
ment, and  condemns  him  to  perpetual  doubt  on  religious  sub- 
jects, under  pain  of  falling  into  absurdity ,|  everything,  on  the 
contrary,  invites  the  Catholic  to  rest  contented  in  the  ample 

*  Fenelon,  Lettres  sur  'Existence  de  Dieu,  le  Christianisme,  et  la 
veritable  Egli.te,  3d  part 

t  The  Protestant,  who  has  a  firm  fixed  belief  in  religion,  must  neces- 
sarily say  :  I  have  a  conviction  that  I  understand  Christianity  better 
than  the  Catholics  of  all  ages,  victims  of  the  most  lamentable  errors, 
than  all  my  fellow-believers,  who,  for  three  centuries,  have  agreed  on 
nothing.  What  more  would  be  necessary  to  make  this  poor  man  a 
proper  subject  for  a  bed  and  a  physician  ? 

9* 


102  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

bark  of  Peter,  which  steers  prosperously  towards  the  eternal 
port,  through  shoals  and  tempests,  bearing  within  it  the  in- 
numerable family  of  the  children  of  obedience  and  charity.* 

Alas !  in  the  general  shipwreck  of  intellect,  misguided  by 
Protestantism  and  incredulity,  where  shall  we  find  the  divine 
peace  of  the  Savior,  bequeathed  by  him  to  his  disciples,  if 
not  in  the  vast  ark  of  Catholicism  ?| 

Every  day  we  shall  see  approaching  it  in  greater  numbers, 
souls  that  are  vigorous  enough  to  escape  the  paralysis  of  an 
icy  indifference,  enlightened  enough  to  despise  the  absurd 
mummery  of  Methodism,  and  strong  enough  to  break  the 
material  ties  which  chain  them  to  the  standard  of  the  Refor- 
mation. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

PARALLEL    BETWEEN    PROTESTANTS    RETURNING    TO    CATHO- 
LICISM   AND    CATHOLICS   WHO    BECOME    PROTESTANTS. 
REMARKABLE    FACT. 

IT  has  been  said,  that  to  judge  of  the  two  religious  sys- 
tems which  have  confronted  each  other  for  three  centuries,  it 
is  sufficient  to  observe  and  listen  to  those  who  pass  from  one 
to  the  other. 

Among  the  Protestants,  who  since  the  early  times  of  the 
Reformation  have  returned  to  die  in  the  religion  of  their 
grandfathers,^  we  find,  particularly  in  our  age,  a  host  of 

*  Filii  sapientiae,  Ecclesia  justorum  ;  et  natio  illorum,  obedicntia  et 
dilectio.  (Eccles.  iii.  1.) 

t  John  xiv.  27. 

t  A  celebrated  Protestant,  Madame  de  Stael,  hard  pushed  upon  the 
religious  question  by  a  learned  ecclesiastic,  whom  she  herself  had  drawn 
into  the  subject,  had  recourse  to  this  common  defence :  I  wish  to  live 


PROTESTANT    CONVERSIONS.  103 

illustrious  names,  of  superior  men,  whose  irreproachable  life, 
and  noble  use  of  the  finest  talents  had  won  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  those  around  them,  and  the  respect  and  admira- 
tion of  the  public.  An  exalted  intellect,  an  honest  and  na- 
turally religious  heart,  soon  reveal  to  them  the  perfect  nullity 
of  a  religion,  which  by  the  absence  of  doctrines  and  the 
meagerness  of  its  worship,  deprives  the  mind  of  its  steadfast- 
ness, virtue  of  its  foundation,  and  piety  of  its  nourishment. 
Catholicism  presents  itself  to  them,  often  in  the  midst  of 
studies  which  might  appear  foreign  to  the  religious  question. 
But,  as  we  have  said  above,  nothing  is  isolated  in  the  intellec- 
tual and  moral  order,  and  truth,  because  it  is  objectively 
being,  becomes  necessarily  the  parent  of  all  that  is. 

One,  a  celebrated  professor  of  history,  meets  with  Catho- 
licism in  the  application  of  the  principles  of  the  science  he  is 
teaching ;  *  another  a  profound  civilian,  discovers  it  in  the 
fundamental  laws  of  the  social  order ;  f  a  third  perceives  it  in 
the  midst  of  the  frightful  and  eminently  anti-Catholic  scenes 
of  the  French  revolution. J  Some  in  their  researches  into 
the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  or  the  principles  of  political 
economy ;  others  in  their  enlightened  enthusiasm  for  the  fine 
arts,  have  attained  the  conviction  that  Catholicism  can  alone 
answer  to  the  moral  wants  of  man,  can  establish  by  its  pro- 

and  die,  sir,  in  the  religion  of  my  fathers.  Jlnd  I,  Madam,  in  the 
religion  of  my  grandfathers,  answered  her  witty  opponent.  This  is, 
in  other  terms,  the  same  answer  that  a  French  Ambassador  made  to 
some  English  Courtiers,  who  seeing  him  recovering  from  a  dangerous 
malady,  asked  him  if  he  should  not  have  regretted  being  buried  in  her- 
etical ground  ?  "  No,"  answered  he,  I  should  only  have  ordered  my 
grave  to  be  dug  a  little  deeper,  and  I  should  have  found  myself  in  the 
midst  of  Catholics."  To  however  slight  a  depth  the  Protestant  pene- 
trates either  the  soil  or  history,  he  meets  everywhere  the  ineffaceable 
inscription :  Protestantism  sprung  up  fifteen  hundred  years  after 
Christianity. 
*  Doctor  Thilips.  f  M.  Hallor.  \  Adam  Miiller. 


104          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

found  morality  a  basis  for  political  economy,  and  that  it 
exclusively  possesses  the  principle  of  the  beautiful  in  nature 
and  art.* 

The  first  gleam  of  light  makes  a  lively  impression  upon 
souls  desirous  of  the  truth.  The  thorough  investigation 
which  the  importance  of  the  subject  demands,  the  conscien- 
tious comparison  of  the  two  systems,  viewed  as  to  their 
origin,  essential  principles  and  results;  the  attentive  reading 
of  what  their  defenders  have  written  most  strongly  for  or 
against;  in  a  word,  all  the  means  necessary  to  form  a  deep 
conviction,  have  been  put  in  use. 

On  the  other  side,  the  very  lively  prejudices  of  early  edu- 
cation, the  kind  of  ignominy  which  the  numerous  and  influ- 
ential family  of  foolish  persons  attach  to  the  change  of  reli- 
gion, the  repugnance  which  the  severe  morality  and  certain 
practices  of  Catholicism  excite  in  human  nature,  but  more 
than  all,  the  terrible  tempest  that  every  converted  Protestant 
draws  down  on  his  own  and  the  heads  of  all  belonging  to 
him,  the  mortal  blow  that  he  strikes  at  the  heart  of  relatives 
and  friends,  the  tears  of  a  wife,  of  children,  whose  brilliant 
prospects  he  often  ruins ;  in  a  word,  everything  which  to 
ordinary  minds  makes  truth  in  the  wrong,  presents  itself 
again  and  again  to  the  thoughts  of  these  men,  and  cruelly 
assails  their  heart 

At  length,  after  long-continued  resistance  grace  has  tri- 
umphed. The  divine  remedies  which  the  heavenly  physician 
has  entrusted  to  his  Church  have  been  applied  to  the  neo- 
phytes, and  immediately  a  strength,  a  calmness  and  an  inex- 
pressible satisfaction  succeed  to  the  weaknesses  of  nature, 
and  to  the  tortures  of  doubtf 

The  first  desire  of  a  soul  that  has  found  God  is  to  publish 

*  De  Soltberg,  Frederic  Schlegel,  Veith,  Molitor,  Bautain,  de  Coux, 
le  legon  d'econ  poliL 
t  Words  of  M.  de  Haller,  Lettre  a  safamille,  Sfc.  Geneva,  1821,  p.  20. 


PROTESTANT  CONVERSIONS.          105 

the  greatness  of  the  Divine  compassion,  and  to  invite  all  those 
who  are  dear  to  it  to  share  its  happiness.  The  new  con- 
verts take  the  pen,  and  what  do  we  find,  in  the  writings  in 
which  they  publish  the  causes  of  their  conversion  ?  an  accent 
of  truth  and  love  which  blind  enthusiasm  and  wavering  faith 
will  never  imitate.  It  is  the  language  of  a  soul,  which,  long 
a  prey  to  the  weariness  of  doubt,  reposes  sweetly  in  the  bosom 
of  established  truth,  and  does  not  fear  to  make  the  public  a 
judge  of  the  reasons  for  its  profound  conviction.  It  is  the 
expression  of  a  heart  more  filled  with  gratitude  and  love  for 
the  religion  which  it  embraces,  than  aversion  for  that  which 
it  abandons,  and  which  utters  only  words  of  kindness  and 
charity  even  to  the  most  unjust  of  its  former  fellow  believers. 
I  appeal  to  the  general  conscience,  do  we  not  find  this  the 
case  in  the  numerous  writings  published  by  Protestants 
returned  to  the  ancient  religion,  from  those  of  the  illustrious 
Count  Stolberg,  to  the  admirable  Letter  of  M.  de  Haller  to 
his  family,  and  that  of  M.  Laval,  ci-devant  minister,  to  his 
old  companions.* 

Let  Protestantism  now  show  us  her  conquests.  We  do 
not  ask  for  illustrious  names,  for  men  who  by  their  brilliancy 
of  talent,  and  nobleness  of  character,  might  equal  the  Bruns- 
wicks,  the  Mecklembourg — Schwerins,  the  Saxe — Gothas,  the 
Solms — Lanbachs,  the  Senfft — Pilsachs,  Stolbergs,  Eksteins, 
Hallers,  Spencers,  Schlegels,  Werners,  Mullers,  Goerres, 

*  Lettre  de  M.  Laval,  formerly  minister  of  Conde-sur-Noireau,  a 
ses  anciens  coreligionnaires,  Paris,  1822.  I  might  add  the  almost 
daily  publications  of  the  members  of  the  Anglican  Church- and  of  the 
University  of  Oxford,  who  have  been  returning  in  great  numbers  for 
some  years  past  to  Catholicism ;  which  caused  a  very  celebrated  Scotch 
Review,  (Blackwood's  Edinburg  Magazine,)  not  long  since  to  announce, 
at  the  end  of  a  long  article  on  the  progress  of  papacy,  that  almost  the 
entire  press,  at  least  in  London,  was  in  the  hands  of  Roman  Catho- 
lics. (See  M.  Alfred  Nettement,  Introduct.  anx  Confer,  du  Dr.  Wise- 
man sur  rEgli.sc,  vol.  i.  p.  71.) 


106  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


Schlossers,  Hurters,  die.,  evidently  there  nre  none  of  these.* 
Let  her  show  us  at  least  some  honest  and  virtuous  persons 
who  have  left  our  ranks,  urged  by  the  necessity  of  a  better 
faith  and  a  better  practice,  and  who  have  edified  their  new 
fellow-worshippers  by  the  spectacle  of  an  eminently  Christian 
life.  We  defy  her  to  produce  one. 

Who,  then,  nre  the  proselytes  of  Protestantism,  since  she 
sometimes  makes  them  or  finds  them  ready  made?  They 
are  almost  always  individuals  whose  change  of  religion  leads 
them  to  hope  for  a  change  of  fortune,  or  whose  embittered 
hearts  would  seek  revenge  in  calumny.  Here  and  there  are  a 
few  priests  and  members  of  religious  orders,  who  having 
exhausted  the  patience  of  their  Bishops  and  Superiors  throw 
into  the  hands  of  strangers  the  ball  of  suspension  or  interdict. 

Some  of  these  men  have  published  the  reasons  for  their 
conversion ;  do  we  find  in  their  writings  anything  which  the 
least  severe  police  would  not  feel  obliged  to  seize  as  an  out- 
rage upon  morality  ?  f  We  always  find  in  them  a  man,  into 

*  I  will  only  give  as  a  proof  of  this  fact  the  extraordinary  mistake 
of  the  Genevan  who,  in  1821,  wishing  to  neutralise  the  lively  sensation 
caused  by  the  return  of  M.  de  Haller  to  the  Church,  attempted  to  make 
a  dead  person  speak,  in  a  "  Reponse  a  M.  de  Haller,  on  the  subject 
of  his  change  of  religion,  par  feu  M.  de  Langalerie,  Geneve,  1821." 
To  oppose  to  the  learned  and  excellent  restorer  of  political  science, 
an  arrogant,  ambitious  military  man,  ignorant  of  religion,  condemned 
to  death  in  his  own  country,  and  who  after  disgracing  himself  in  all 
the  Courts  of  Europe,  died  a  professed  Turk  in  a  Hungarian  prison, 
was  in  fact  confessing  an  extreme  dearth  of  proselytes ;  and  here  pov- 
erty is  reaHy  a  vice. 

f  At  the  moment  when  I  am  writing  this,  the  journals  announce  the 
apostacy  of  a  priest  of  the  diocese  of  Pamiers,  named  Maurette,  and 
the  seizure  of  a  pamphlet  by  the  public  ministry,  entitled:  Le  Pape 
et  I'Evanqile,  or  Encore  des  adieux  a  Rome.  The  same  journals  an- 
nounce the  departure  of  M.  Maurette  for  Canada,  in  the  capacity  of 
a  Protestant  minister.  (See  rJLmi  de  la  Religion,  April  4th,  1S44.) 
How  prompt  are  these  people  in  the  ordination  of  their  ministers ! 


PROTESTANT  CONVERSIONS.          107 

whose  hands  a  Bible  has  very  fortunately  fallen,  beginning  to 
read  it  secretly  (for  according  to  these  accounts  it  is  a  prohi- 
bited article  of  traffic  among  Catholics.)  He  finds  in  it 
neither  transubstantiation,  auricular  confession,  purgatory, 
nor  the  worship  of  saints  and  images,  nor  the  adoration  of 
the  Pope,  nor  the  celibacy  of  the  priesthood,  nor  religious 
vows,  nor  fasting,  abstinence,  nor  fifty  other  superstitions  of 
the  same  kmd.  He  then,  perhaps,  consults  a  Catholic  priest ; 
but  the  latter  requires  him  in  the  first  place  to  deliver  up  the 
Bible,  and  preaches  absolute  submission  to  Romish  traditions 
under  pain  of  eternal  flames.  Indignant  at  finding  the  word 
of  man  preferred  to  the  word  of  God,  the  neophyte  makes 
haste  to  cast  off  the  dust  of  his  feet,  and  quit  the  Romish 
Babylon. 

Let  us  admit  the  truth  of  this  fact,  what  follows?  Here  is 
a  man  who  tells  us  that  he  no  longer  believes  in  the  Catholic 
doctrine ;  but  what  doctrine  does  he  put  in  its  place  ?  He 
does  not  say.  He  tells  us  that  he  cordially  detests  the  Pope, 
Bishops  and  Priests,  and  that  he  joyfully  leaves  the  Church 
of  anti-Christ ;  but  what  is  the  charm  which  attracts  him 
towards  Protestantism,  and  which  among  the  innumerable 
sects  that  are  swarming  in  it,  is  about  to  console  him,  by  the 
purity  of  its  worship,  for  the  loss  of  Roman  abominations. 
He  does  not  say. 

He  says  that  he  abjures  confession,  fasting,  abstinence, 
celibacy,  religious  vows,  &c.,  but  to  what  practices  will  he 
confine  himself,  in  order  better  to  conform  to  a  Gospel  which 
only  preaches  renunciation  and  mortification  ?  Concerning 
this  he  preserves  silence.  He  is  evidently  a  Christian  whose 

Moreover,  if  the  essence  of  Protestantism  consists  in  opposition  to 
Catholicity,  or  as  a  distinguished  minister  has  said,  M.  Vinet,  in  an 
irreconciledble  hatred  to  authority.  (See  Guide  du  Catechumeni 
Vaudois,  torn.  iii.  p.  276,)  to  whom,  better  than  to  a  bad  priest,  could 
the  care  of  propagating  such  a  religion  be  confided  ! 


108  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

faith  has  met  with  a  discomfiture,  and  who  wishes  for  morality 
at  a  discount. 

If  it  is  a  priest  or  an  unfrocked  religious  who  holds  the 
pen,  he  will  be  more  frank.  Amid  many  insults  and  calum- 
nies against  those  who  have  driven  him  from  their  ranks  he 
will  quote  Buffon  on  ike  impossible  rule  of  celibacy ;  and 
will  confess  that  the  noble  and  august  image  of  woman,  that 
master-piece  of  the  Creator,  that  complement  o£the  imper- 
fect portion  of  man  .  .  .  has  charmed  and  attracted  him.* 
In  short,  it  is  the  old  comedy  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
invariably  ends  in  marriage,  and  the  living  Bible  which  has 
convicted  Rome  of  error,  is  always  a  woman. 

It  is  evident  that  Catholicism  well  understands  the  art  of 
forming  thorough  Christians,  while  Protestantism  can  only 
unmake  them. 

I  will  conclude  with  a  fact  of  public  notoriety,  the  consi- 
deration of  which  has  moved  many  Protestant  consciences. 
There  are  very  few  of  our  Catholic  priests,  however  limited 
may  be  their  ministry,  who  are  not  often  called  to  receive  into 
the  Catholic  Church,  dying  Protestants,  whilst  it  would  be 
impossible  for  me  to  cite  a  single  example  of  a  Catholic 
desiring  to  die  in  any  other  communion  than  his  own.f 

*  May  I  be  excused  for  quoting  the  Adieux  a  Rome,  of  the  ex-priest 
and  soldier  Bruitte,  p.  92,  94  ?  It  is  just  to  observe  that  this  vile  pam- 
phlet has  obtained  at  Geneva  as  elsewhere,  only  the  contempt  which 
must  be  excited  for  it  in  any  honest  mind.  It  could  find  favor  only 
with  the  sheep  of  the  Pre.  Beni. 

t  Milner,  Excellence  of  the  Catholic  Religion,  vol.  i.  page  105. 
This  fact  which  has  contributed  to  the  conversion  of  many  distinguish- 
ed Englishmen,  is  one  of  the  Fifty  reasons  which  induced  Jlntoine 
Ulric,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  to  embrace  the  Catholic  Religion,  a  work 
which  made  a  great  sensation  in  Germany  in  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century. 


SOUTH    SEA    MISSIONS.  109 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

APPLICATION    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    PRINCIPLE    TO    THE    CON- 
VERSION   OF    INFIDELS. SOUTH    SEA    MISSIONS. 

LET  us  now  follow  Catholicism  into  Pagan  countries  in 
pursuance^of  the  mission  which  was  given  it,  eighteen  hun- 
dred years  ago,  to  announce  and  teach  the  practice  of  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature. 

Its  means  of  action  are  still  just  what  they  were  when  it 
came  forth  from  the  upper  chamber  to  the  conquest  of  the 
world,  most  feeble  in  the  eyes  of  human  wisdom  and  ill  pro- 
portioned to  the  magnitude  of  the  enterprise.  It  is  always 
nothingness  which  in  the  hands  of  the  Most  High,  produces 
prodigies,  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  sight.* 

Instead  of  the  five  thousand  agents  whom  the  Bible  Socie- 
ties show  us  with  .pride,  escorted  by  women  and  children,  and 
receiving  every  year  thirty  or  forty  millions  of  francs  either 
in  Bibles  or  in  salaries,  f  what  do  we  see  ?  a  few  priests,  a 

*  I.  Cor.  i.  20. 

t  In  1830,  the  Catholic  Church  only  numbered  four  hundred  Mis- 
sionaries in  heathen  countries,  and  the  receipts  of  The  Association  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  did  not  exceed  300,000  francs,  ($60,000) 
whilst  the  equipment  of  the  Bible  Missions  was  5,242  individuals,  and 
the  annual  expenditure  exceeded  20,000,000  of  francs.  So  that  a  Protes- 
tant publication  (The  Evangelical  Magazine)  exclaims :  "  Romish 
Church  !  now  come  and  boast  to  us  of  thy  Apostolic  labors,  and  tell  us 
if,  even  in  the  palmiest  days  of  thy  long  existence,  thou  hadst  pha- 
lanxes so  numerous  and  well  disciplined  to  oppose  to  the  great  enemy 
of  the  salvation  of  the  human  race  ?  "  (See  Annals  of  the  Associa- 
tion, vol.  iv.  page  184.)  No,  gentlemen  of  The  Evangelical  Magazine, 
the  Roman  Church  is  not  so  rich,  and  it  is  unfortunate ;  for  with  5,242 
Missionaries  and  an  income  of  20,000,000  of  francs,  she  would  soon 
have  converted  the  world.  But  tell  us  why,  with  your  phalanxes  so 
numerous  and  so  well  paid,  you  have  not  been  able  to  do  what  one  of 

VOL.    II.  10 


110  THE    SOLUTION    OF    CHEAT    PROBLEMS. 

few  religious  embarking  at  Havre,  Brest  or  elsewhere,  bidding 
an  eternal  adieu  to  their  family,  to  their  friends  and  to  Eu- 
rope. They  carried  with  them  a  Bible,  a  breviary,  the  indis- 
pensable articles  for  worship,  and  some  pictures.  The  pov- 
erty of  those  who  sent  them  obliged  them  to  calculate  exactly 
the  expenses  of  the  expedition,  and  having  arrived  at  the  ter- 
mination of  it,  they  expended  every  year  the  sum  of  six  or 
seven  hundred  francs.  Instead  of  establishing  themselves,  like 
the  Bible  Missionaries,  between  a  fort  and  an  English  factory, 
which  insures  safety,  they  landed  on  a  savage,  inhospitable 
shore,  dreaded  by  mariners.  The  captain  and  the  crew, 
whose  affection  these  apostolic  men  had  won,  exclaimed  at 
their  rashness  and  departed  with  tears  in  their  eyes. 

Thus  landed,  in  the  month  of  August,  1834,  at  the  Isles 
of  Gambier,  two  priests  and  a.  catechist  of  the  Society  of 
Picpus ;  in  the  same  manner,  three  years  later,  the  priests  of 
the  Society  of  Mary  established  themselves  at  the  Wallis 
Isles,  and  at  that  Futuna  famous  in  the  annats  of  cannibalism.* 

The  Missionaries  advanced  towards  the  royal  hut,  a  fright- 
ful slaughter-house,  where  streams  of  human  blood  had  just 

our  Missionaries  alone  has  done  the  Jesuit  Father,  Jean  de  Brito,  who, 
a  martyr  at  forty-five  years  of  age  had  converted  nearly  a  hundred 
thousand  heathen  at  Madura  and  among  the  Maravas.  (See  Berault 
Bercastel,  Histoire  Ecclis.,  torn.  xii.  an.  1692. — Lettres  Edifiantcs  et 
Curieuses,  torn,  x.) 

*  According  to  documents  taken  down  from  the  mouth  of  the  natives 
themselves,  the  number  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  two  islands  (Futu»a 
and  Arofi,)  commonly  designated  in  French  charts  by  the  name  of 
Alloufatou,  not  long  since  exceeded  four  thousand;  at  present  it  does 
not  exceed  eight  hundred,  and  it  is  in  a  great  measure  the  tooth  of  the 
survivors  which  has  caused  this  great  diminution.  Not  more  than 
twenty  years  since,  the  rage  for  human  flesh  was  so  excessive,  that 
wars  were  not  sufficient  to  supply  the  hideous  banquet,  the  inhabitants 
hunted  each  other  even  in  their  own  tribe  :  men,  women,  children,  old 
men,  friends  and  enemies,  were  killed  without  distinction.  They  even 
massacred  the  members  of  their  own  family,  mothers,  &c. — (See  Lettre 
du  P.  Chevron,  Annahs,  torn.  xv.  p.  41.) 


SOUTH    SEA    MISSIONS.  Ill 

before  been  flowing.*  The  mild  and  inoffensive  air  of  these 
strangers,  the  small  gifts  which  they  brought,  the  crucifix 
glittering  on  their  breast  interested  barbarian  majesty.  A 
piece  of  land  was  assigned  them  where  they  could  build  a 
hut  of  branches  and  plant  some  vegetables. 

A  cross  was  elevated ;  the  celestial  power  that  bent  the 
head  of  the  Caesars  before  this  long  despised  and  infamous 
wood,  soon  moved  the  hearts  of  these  islanders.  A  crowd 
collected  around  the  new  comers ;  their  extraordinary  life, 
divided  between  prayer  and  labor,  the  care  they  gave  the  sick 
and  those  wounded  in  their  frequent  savage  wars,  the  cures 
they  effected,  less  by  their  remedies  than  by  the  power  of 
Him  who  sent  them,  conciliated  the  respect  and  affection  of 
a  part  of  the  inhabitants.  According  to  the  example  of  the 
Divine  Missionary,  they  act  before  teaching.  \ 

Destitute  of  the  aid  of  an  interpreter,  they  collected  with 
the  help  of  signs,  the  most  common  words  of  the  language, 
composed  an  alphabet,  gathered  the  children  around  them, 
taught  them  to  read  and  to  bless  the  name  of  the  true  God.J 
Schools  were  opened  through  a  whole  Archipelago :  the  Mis- 
sionaries were  constantly  passing  from  one  island  to  another, 
in  their  frail  barks,  at  the  risk  of  perishing  in  the  waves,  or 
by  the  hands  of  barbarians  who  were  enraged  at  not  being 
able  to  induce  them  to  take  part  in  their  infamous  diversions.§ 

God  blessed  such  generous  efforts.     The  children  becom- 

*  The  king  alone,  in  quality  of  God  was  served  with  whole  bodies ; 
in  other  kitchens  the  dead  were  dismembered.  Fourteen  victims  have 
been  counted  at  one  time  on  the  table  of  a  prince.  With  roasted 
bodies  living  men  were  also  frequently  served,  with  their  feet  and  hands 
tied ;  they  were  extended  on  large  trays  that  their  blood  might  not  be 
lost  .  .  .  An  old  man  was  one  day  pointed  out  to  me,  who  alone  out 
of  a  village  of  three  hundred  souls  escaped  the  oven. — (Letter  of  P. 
Chevri'i,  p.  42.) 

t  A«t.  Ap.  i.  1.  t  Annales,  torn.  viii.  p.  5,  6,  40. 

§  3*males,  torn.  ix.  page  24. 


112  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ing  so  many  Apostles,  chanted  in  their  families  the  first  truths 
of  religion  which  were  introduced  into  their  hymns,  and  talked 
to  their  parents  of  the  God  who  made  heaven  and  earth,  and 
promises  his  worshippers  eternal  joys.  All  hastened  to  their 
lessons,  attracted  by  the  sounds  of  the  harmonica,*  the 
chanting  of  hymns  and  the  pomp  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  cele- 
brated in  a  temple  of  boughs.  The  image  of  Mary  attracted 
their  regards,  called  forth  questions,  and  in  speaking  of  the 
Great  Mother,  the  Son  was  also  spoken  of,  who  descended 
from  heaven  to  crush  the  tyranny  of  the  cruel  Aruino.f 

The  manica  with  its  three  equal  leaves,  (the  same  trefoil  by 
which  St.  Patrick  used  to  teach  the  Irish  idolators  the  mys- 
tery of  the  Holy  Trinity,)  became  the  symbol  of  one  God  in 
three  persons. J  The  cross  erected  on  the  public  place,  and 
the  sign  of  which  was  repeated  on  every  forehead,  incessantly 
recalled  the  principal  doctrine  of  Christianity. 

In  proportion  as  the  divine  light  insinuated  itself  from  the 
senses  into  the  soul  of  the  idolators,  they  were  ashamed  of 
the  absurdity  and  degradation  of  their  worship.  Nine  months 
had  scarcely  passed  after  the  arrival  of  the  Missionaries 
before  two  islands  had  planted  the  Cross  on  the  ruins  of 
superstition,  and  a  whole  Archipelago  celebrated  with  trans- 
ports of  joy  the  arrival  of  the  Pontiff  who  came,  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ,  to  take  possession  of  the  fifth  quarter  of  the 
world.  What  a  beautiful  sight  to  see  this  prince  of  the  Church 
enthroned  on  an  inverted  tray,  in  a  cathedral  constructed  of 
reeds,  in  the  midst  of  a  throng  of  half  naked  savages !  § 

Every  day  witnessed  the  fall  of  an  idol  beneath  the  blows 

*  Ibid.,  torn.  ix.  p.  40. 

f  This  is  the  name  which  the  inhabitants  of  Gambler  give  to  the 
bad  Spirit. 

J  Jlnnales,  torn.  ix.  p.  34. 

§  Mgr.  Rouchouse,  of  the  diocese  of  Lyons,  Apostolic  Vicar  of 
Eastern  Australasia,  who  arrived  at  the  isles  of  Gambier  the  Oth  May, 
1835.  (Jlnnales,  torn,  ix.,  p.  144.) 


SOUTH    SEA    MISSIONS.  113 


of  its  undeceived  adorers;  and,  before  the  end  of  1830,  the 
rest  of  these  monstrous  fetiches  were  shipped  to  France, 
which,  in  exchange  for  these  trophies,  sent  the  missionaries 
cloth  to  cover  their  neophytes,  medicines  for  the  sick,  mate- 
rials for  spinning  and  weaving  cotton,  instruments  of  labor, 
masonry,  carpentry,  and  husbandry,  and  for  the  building  of 
churches  and  houses. 

There  the  Catholic  priests  are  still  the  same  as  they  were  in 
the  forests  of  America,  in  the  17th  century;  in  our  Europe  in 
the  Middle  Age — men  of  science  and  of  arts.  One  is  occu- 
pied with  medicine,  another  digs  wells,  plants  vines,  or  is 
employed  in  freeing  the  Archipelago  from  the  formidable  ani- 
mals which  devour  even  the  roots  of  the  trees.*  A  third 
traverses  the  ocean  to  procure  for  the  new  converts  of 
Gambier  books  printed  in  their  own  language. 

It  is  thus  that  these  poor  islanders,  who,  not  long  since, 
cried  "  A  miracle !"  at  seeing  water  boiling  in  a  kettle,|  have 
rapidly  become  initiated  into  the  prodigies  of  our  arts,  and 
receive  from  the  same  hands  the  knowledge  which  leads  them 
to  their  celestial  country,  and  that  which  softens  the  severity 
of  the  terrestrial  journey. 

The  same  means  effected  the  same  prodigies  at  New  Zea- 
land and  in  the  isles  of  Wallis  and  Futuna,  where  the  priests 
of  Mary  are  reaping,  in  such  abundance,  the  fruits  of  their 
toil,  and  the  blood  of  one  of  their  brethren.  J 

"  But,"  some  zealous  Protestant  will  object,  "  these  chris- 
tians  do  not  read  the  Bible."  This  is  true.  Mgr.  Pompallier, 
landing  at  New  Zealand,  had  probably  only  a  Latin  Bible, 

*  Jlnnales,  torn.  ix.  p.  19.  \  Annales,  torn.  ix.  p.  141. 

t  The  Father  Chanel,  massacred  at  Futuna,  at  the  close  of  1841. 
(See  concerning  the  conversion  of  the  Wallisians,  Futunians,  and  New 
Zealanders,  and  the  admirable  spirit  which  animates  them,  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Maristes  missionaries.)  finales,  torn.  xiv.  p.  1'Jl,  201,  205, 
217 ;  torn.  xv.  p.  29,  399,  403,  407,  &c. 

10* 


114  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

and  I  do  not  know  that  he  translated  it  into  the  Maori,  as 
the  Methodist  ministers  had  done,  who,  he  found,  had  been 
established  there  for  twenty  years.  Thus  the  twenty-five  or 
thirty  thousand  proselytes  there  under  his  direction,  have  not 
the  happiness  of  reading  the  Bible,  as  some  hundreds  of 
Methodist  neophytes  do,  and  of  discovering  in  the  divine  book, 
among  other  pretty  things,  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  inventor 
of  fire-arms  ;*  but,  on  the  other  hand,  these  good  people  know 
all  that  it  is  necessary  to  know,  in  order  to  love  and  serve 
God,  to  fear  his  justice,  desire  heaven,  cherish  one's  neigh- 
bor, hold  theft,  injustice,  and  immodesty  in  horror,  and  lead 
a  life  worthy  of  the  best  days  of  Christianity. 

It  must  be  acknowledged,  the  Catholic  priest  is  some- 
what the  man  of  routine.  He  imagines  that,  in  religion, 
as  in  other  sciences,  he  must  commence  with  the  least, 
place  the  alphabet  before  folios,  and  teach  the  Institutes 
before  the  Code.  He  believes  that  a  good  catechist  can, 
in  an  hour,  give  a  heathen  more  knowledge  of  Christian 
doctrine,  than  he  could  acquire  by  two  months'  reading 
of  such  a  book  as  the  Bible.  He  has  read  in  St.  Paul,  that, 
to  the  carnal  man,  still  a  child  in  the  things  of  God,  milk  is 

*  "  A  sad  spectacle  presented  itself  to  me  on  visiting  a  tribe  almost 
entirely  Protestant.  There  I  found  everywhere  the  Bible  translated 
into  the  Maori  tongue  by  Methodist  ministers.  The  young  people, 
proud  of  their  pretended  knowledge,  quoted  and  commented  upon  the 
sacred  text  without  discrimination,  pretending  to  find  in  it  all  their 
own  ideas,  and  even  the  invention  of  fire-arms,  the  discovery  of  which 
they  attributed  to  Jesus  Christ.  Now  these  poor  people,  can  it  be  be- 
lieved, did  not  even  know  that  there  was  one  God  in  three  persons, 
that  the  Word  became  man  and  died  for  us.  And  their  teachers  have 
been  twenty  years  in  New  Zealand!  Instruction,  moreover,  is  not  the 
only  advantage  which  our  disciples  have  over  those  of  the  Protestant 
missionaries.  Strangers  easily  distinguish  our  catechumens  by  the  air 
of  candor  and  kindness  which  contrasts,  it  is  said,  with  the  stern  and 
harsh  physiognomy  of  the  heretical  islanders."  (Letter  of  Father 
Pctiljean,  vol.  xiv.  p.  211.) 


SOUTH    SEA    MISSIONS.  115 

necessary,  not  meat.*  Instead,  then,  of  imitating  the  cruel 
missionary,  who  throws  the  Bible  to  the  poor  Australian,  say- 
ing to  him,  Comprehend  that,  or  you  will  be  lost!  he  becomes 
the  nurse,  who  transforms  bread  into  milk  ;  or,  according  to  the 
beautiful  comparison  of  M.  De  Maistre,  he  imitates  the  dote, 
which,  before  distributing  to  her  little  ones  the  grain  that  is  to 
nourish  them,  breaks  and  pulverises  it,  that  it  may  not  harm  them. 

As  to  the  profound  veneration  which  is  due  to  the  divine 
code  of  the  Scriptures,  who  inspires  it  most — the  Protestant 
minister  who  throws  it  to  every  passenger,  at  the  risk  of 
seeing  it  soon  converted  into  shoes  for  Pagans,  f  or  the  Ca- 
tholic missionary,  who  reads  it  every  day  at  the  altar,  quotes 
and  explains  it  reverently  in  the  pulpit,  and  who  would  give 
himself  up  to  be  crushed  under  foot,  strangled,  crucified, 
burned  before  a  slow  fire,  rather  than  deliver  it  to  the  tyrant 
who  demands  it  ?  Is  it  astonishing  that  neophytes  and  execu- 
tioners conceive  a  high  idea  of  the  Bible,  and  say  there  must 
be  something  divine  in  this  book  ? 

We  must,  then,  acknowledge  that  the  Catholic  method  is  no 
less  adapted  to  form  new  disciples  to  Jesus  Christ  than  to  pre- 
serve and  perfect  those  who  already  have  adopted  it.  We  will 
now  see  if  it  contains  nothing  wounding  to  human  dignity. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

ON   THE   PRETENDED   DESPOTISM    OF   THE   CATHOLIC    CHURCH. 

INTELLECTUAL    INDEPENDENCE    OF    THE    CATHOLIC. 

HIS    SECURITY    AGAINST    ARBITRARY    POWER. 

WITH  the  enormous  prerogative  of  infallibility  conceded  to 
the  Pope  and  corps  of  Bishops,  with  the  obligation  it  imposes 

*  Tanquam  parvulis  in  Christo,  lac  vobis  potum  dedi,  non  escamt 
&c.  I.  Cor.  iii.  1,  2.— Heb.  v.  12. 

f  See  above,  ch.  xviii. 


116          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

upon  the  faithful,  to  submit  to  their  decisions  in  matters  of 
doctrine,  what  becomes  of  the  first  of  our  rights,  liberty  of 
thought  and  conscience!  What  permanent  danger  is  there 
in  that  power  which  commands  without  control  whatever  is 
most  active  and  energetic  in  human  nature,  and  disposes,  at 
its  pleasure,  of  the  mind  and  will  of  a  hundred  and  sixty  mil- 
lions of  men! 

"  When  whatever  we  possess  most  intimate,  most  individual 
and  free — conscience,  thought,  and  interior  life — is  concerned, 
to  abdicate  the  government  of  one's  self,  to  deliver  one's  self 
up  to  a  foreign  power,  is  a  true  moral  suicide,  a  servitude  a 
hundred  times  worse  than  that  of  the  body  or  the  soul."  * 

This  is  repeated  in  unison  by  most  Protestant  writers,  and 
thinking  men  of  our  universities,  who  desire  for  themselves 
the  liberty  to  think  and  teach,  and  are  displeased  that  our 
Bishops  should  destroy  the  impious  and  immoral  reveries 
which  they  would  impose  upon  the  youthful  intellect  of  their 
pupils. 

But  the  truth  is,  that  the  Catholic  system  is  precisely  the 
only  one  in  which  exists,  in  principle  and  practice,  true  inde- 
pendence of  thought  and  conscience;  whilst,  in  every  other 
system,  there  is  always,  in  fact  as  well  as  in  principle,  a  pro- 
found and  degrading  subjection  of  the  intellect,  and  an  ado- 
ration of  the  thoughts  and  words  of  man. 

It  is  a  principle  universally  professed  by  all  Catholics,  from 
the  Pontiff  of  Rome  to  the  hnmblest  of  his  spiritual  children, 
that  the  word  of  God,  whether  written  or  traditional,  is  the 
only  subject  of  the  faith  of  the  Christian ;  that  no  Pope,  even 
if  he  were  at  the  head  of  all  the  Bishops  of  the  world,  united 
in  general  council,  can,  or  ever  will  be  able  to  add  or  sub- 
tract anything  whatever  from  the  doctrines,  precepts  of  mo- 
rality, and  maxims  of  perfection,  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  and 
his  Apostles,  or  from  the  sacraments  instituted  by  him ;  that 
*  Guizot,  Cours  (THistoire  Moderne. 


INDEPENDENCE    OF    THE    CATHOLIC.  117 

% 

the  sovereign  and  infallible  authority  of  the  Church  is  limited, 
by  the  Divine  Founder,  to  the  teaching  of  revealed  doctrine 
(which  implies  the  right  to  define,  in  case  of  difference,  and 
to  excommunicate  the  refractory  from  the  religious  society), 
to  the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  to  the  formation  and 
execution  of  laws  adapted  to  maintain  purity  of  faith  and 
morals,  and  the  majesty  of  worship. 

In  principle,  then,  the  Catholic  depends  on  God  alone  for 
his  faith.  If  men  interpose,  it  is  only  as  depositories  of  the 
divine  teaching  and  witnesses  of  the  faith  of  all  ages.  He  is 
a  subject,  who,  while  submitting  to  the  magistrate  as  local 
executor  of  the  general  law,  obeys  only  the  sovereign. 

But  does  the  practice  harmonize  with  the  principle  ?  What 
guarantees  to  the  Catholic  that  the  Pope  shall  not  mingle 
tares  with  the  good  grain,  and  give  his  own  individual  thought 
for  that  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  universal  Church  ? 

The  first  guarantee  of  the  Catholic  against  the  aberrations 
of  the  Pope  is  in  the  formal  and  repeatedly  reiterated  pro- 
mises of  Jesus  Christ,  which  would  plainly  be  at  fault,  if  the 
Church  should  ever  be  misguided  by  its  chief — a  promise  the 
authenticity  of  which  could  be  proved  to  him,  if  necessary, 
by  the  Protestant  Bibles,  in  which  it  may  be  read.* 

His  second  guarantee  is  in  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
itself,  which  is  the  most  inconvenient  place  imaginable  for 
those  who  would  wish  to  innovate  in  matters  of  doctrine,  even 
if  they  were  the  Popes  themselves. 

Except  in  case  of  mental  alienation,  which  has  never  yet 
been  known  in  the  person  of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  but 
which,  if  it  occurred,  would  embarrass  Catholics  as  little  as 
the  very  frequent  event  of  the  death  of  their  head,  a  Pope, 
however  ill-disposed  we  may  imagine  him  to  be,  would  never 
take  it  upon  himself  to  change  the  teaching  of  the  Church : 
for,  in  evil  as  in  good,  no  man  in  his  senses  attempts  the  im. 
*  See  as  above,  ch.  xx.  xxi. 


118          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

possible,  and  lightly  runs  the  evident  risk  of  being  cast  from 
ihe  highest  rank  into  the  mire. 

Even  if  the  deceitful  Pontiff  obtained  by  address,  or  other- 
wise, the  silence  of  the  seventy-two  counsellors  who  aid  him 
in  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  most  of  whom  have 
elevated  him  to  his  present  situation  (difficulty  first,  which 
much  resembles  a  moral  impossibility),  how  could  he  deceive 
or  intimidate  the  fifteen  hundred  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Arch- 
bishops, and  Bishops  of  the  Catholic  world,  they  also  being, 
by  divine  right,  judges  of  the  doctrine,  and  pledged  by  the 
most  solemn  oaths  to  defend  it,  even  to  the  shedding  of  blood  ; 
by  their  situation,  also,  obliged  to  possess  a  thorough  know- 
ledge of  universal  doctrines,  and  surrounded  by  theologians 
grown  gray  in  sacred  study ;  the  guide  of  innumerable  be- 
lievers, among  whom  religion  numbers  learned  defenders,  and 
a  large  proportion  of  whom  are  sufficiently  well  instructed  to 
be  struck  with  the  least  change  in  matters  of  religion. 

Is  it  not  evident  that  success  in  error  is  here  impossible !  Two 
observations  will  place  this  impossibility  in  a  still  clearer  light 

1st.  The  Catholic  religion  is  not  a  purely  speculative  theory 
addressed  only  to  the  intellect,  to  be  comprehended  only  by 
the  very  limited  class  of  thinking  men.  It  is  essentially 
practical,  and  accessible  to  every  mind  by  the  obligations  it 
imposes,  and  the  sensible  forms  with  which  it  clothes  itself. 
It  has  no  doctrine,  no  precept,  no  sacrament,  which  is  not 
manifested  to  the  senses,  which  is  not  reflected,  embodied 
and  materialised  in  some  sort  in  the  daily  practices,  solemni- 
ties, ceremonies,  chants  and  prayers,  and  even  in  the  archi- 
tecture and  decoration  of  the  temples ;  in  a  word,  in  every 
part  of  the  worship.  If  an  alteration,  then,  were  introduced 
into  the  Catholic  idea,  the  form  also  must  be  adjusted  to  it; 
and  if  it  were  possible  that  a  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of 
men  should  consent  to  preserve  silence,  the  stones  themselves 
would  cry  aloud  at  the  innovation. 


INDEPENDENCE    OF    THE    CATHOLIC.  119 

2d.  No  definition  in  matters  of  doctrine  has  been  or  ever 
will  be  given  by  a  Pope  or  a  General  Council  approved  and 
confirmed  by  the  Pope,  unless  this  extreme  measure  were 
prompted  by  doctrinal  differences  which  put  in  peril  the  unity 
of  faith.  The  sentence,  therefore,  is  always  preceded  by  full 
and  solemn  debates  which  command  the  general  attention. 
Two  parties  are  confronted :  the  one,  more  or  less  numerous 
has  for  its  founders  or  advocates,  as  is  always  seen,  Bishops, 
Priests,  Religious  and  Princes,  who  put  everything  in  requisi- 
tion to  obtain  for  it  confidence,  and  to  avert  the  painful  pre- 
possession which  is  hovering  over  it ;  the  other  party  com- 
posed of  a  large  majority  of  clergy,  are  occupied  with 
defending  the  ancient  faith,  and  arming  the  faithful  against 
the  new  opinions  while  they  are  awaiting  the  supreme 
decision. 

The  Scriptures,  the  monuments  of  the  tradition  and  faith 
of  all  ages,  are  discussed,  and  cited  on  each  side ;  innumera- 
ble documents,  of  every  shade  of  opinion  are  interchanged ; 
the  universities  and  religious  bodies  are  ranged  on  the  right 
and  left;  the  Princes  interpose  and  join  their  voices  to  those 
of  the  Bishops  that  the  Sovereign  Pastor  may  cause  his 
voice  to  be  heard.  The  Catholic  world  is  in  expectation, 
and  even  heretical  societies  maliciously  lend  an  ear.  Must 
not  the  least  discreet  Pope  necessarily  be  upon  his  guard  ! 

The  Pontiff  prescribes  public  prayers,  and  if  he  cannot 
assemble  the  Bishops,  he  establishes  congregations  of  Cardi- 
nals, Bishops  and  Theologians,  who  for  many  months  and 
sometimes  for  many  years,  discuss  a  question  already  tho- 
roughly discussed,  read  all  that  has  been  written  of  import- 
ance on  each  side,  listen  patiently  to  the  arguments  of  the 
prejudiced,  and  neglect  nothing  to  bring  to  light  the  true 
doctrine  of  the  Universal  Church  upon  the  point  under  dis- 
pute. It  must  be  observed,  indeed,  with  regard  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  Catholicism,  a  doctrinal  definition  is  not  the  result 


120     THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 

of  the  supernatural  and  sudden  inspiration  of  the  Pope,  or 
the  Bishops  assembled  in  Council;  it  is  not  a  new  revelation, 
or  the  creation  of  a  dogma  hitherto  unknown ;  but  it  is  the 
solemn  declaration  of  what  the  Church  has  always  believed 
and  taught  more  or  less  definitely;  and  the  effect  which 
Jesus  Christ  has  promised  to  the  pastors  assembled  is  to  pre- 
vent them  from  error  in  the  distinction  they  make  between 
the  constant  faith  of  the  Church  and  the  new  opinions. 

Let  the  Pope  decide ;  it  is  a  hundred  thousand  to  one 
that,  independently  of  the  divine  promise,  he  will  pronounce 
aright.  If,  after  he  has  spoken,  the  Church  bows  with  re- 
spect and  answers  Amen,  there  is  a  certainty,  for  every  man 
of  sense,  that  the  Pope  has  not  made  an  innovation. 

Considering  the  Church,  then,  merely  in  a  human  point  of 
view,  there  is,  and  can  be  no  social  organisation  which  binds 
so  strongly  the  hands  of  its  chiefs,  and*  presents  so  many 
guarantees  against  the  exercise  of  arbitrary  power.  Thus 
this  permanent  danger  which  is  thought  to  exist  in  a  power 
that  absolutely  disposes  of  the  understanding  and  will  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  men,  has  no  reality  but  in  the 
brain  of  fools. 

Finally,  history  comes  to  gives  her  testimony  that  the  de- 
posit of  Catholic  Faith  is  pure  from  all  human  alloy.  How 
many  attempts  have  been  made  at  innovation  in  every  age  by 
the  most  distinguished  minds,  from  the  great  Tertullian  and  the 
sublime  Origen  to  the  author  of  the  "  Essai  sur  V Indifference  /" 
Yet,  these  powerful  minds  who  would  have  made  all  things 
bend  under  their  yoke  in  a  church  of  human  formation,  have 
been  dashed  to  pieces  against  the  immoveable  rock  on  which 
Jesus  Christ  has  built  his  Church.  This  is  because  the 
Catholic  recognises  in  genius  the  mission  to  preserve,  to 
defend  and  to  cultivate  the  common  inheritance  of  Christian 
truths,  but  not  to  change  its  divine  limits. 

Thus  while  we  can  point  out  in  history  the  precise  date 


SPIRITUAL    DESPOTISM    OF    SOVEREIGNS.         121 

and  the  inventors  of  the  different  religious  systems  which 
have  enjoyed  a  longer  or  shorter  period  of  favor  in  the  sepa- 
rated Churches,  we  defy  heresy  to  cite  one  single  dogma,  one 
single  rule  of  morals  or  of  perfection,  one  single  sacrament, 
which  we  have  adopted  on  the  word  of  any  learned  man  or 
Pope  whatever. 

The  Catholic,  while  lending  a  docile  ear  to  the  Church, 
has  then  the  assurance  that  he  is  listening  to  Jesus  Christ; 
and  if  he  relinquishes  the  very  questionable  power  of  creating 
for  himself  a  religion,  it  is  into  the  hands  of  God  himself.  If 
this  is  not  the  true  and  perfect  liberty  of  the  children  of  God, 
where  is  it  to  be  found,  and  in  what  does  it  consist? 


CHAPTER    XXXI 

OF    THE    PRETENDED    ENFRANCHISEMENT    OF    THOUGHT    BY 

PROTESTANTISM. SPIRITUAL    DESPOTISM    OF    SOVEREIGNS. 

EVANGELICAL    CHURCH    OF   PRUSSIA. 

NEVER  did  the  human  mind  attain  a  greater  independence, 
than  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when  Luther,  that  liberator  of 
modern  thought,  to  speak  in  academic  language,*  throwing 
off  the  yoke  of  Catholic  authority,  summoned  every  one  to 
invest  himself  with  the  sovereign  power  in  matters  of  faith.-j- 

Yet,  where  can  be  found  an  instance  of  a  more  blind  cre- 
dulity, of  a  more  entire  intellectual  abnegation,  than  among 

*  Michelet,  Mlmoires  de  Luther,  pref.,  p.  12. 

t  Let  us  break  their  ties  and  cast  off  their  yoke  from  our  heads, 
cried  Luther,  borrowing  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  in  his  answer  to 
the  bull  of  Leo  X.,  "  without  remembering,"  says  Bossuet,  "  that 
this  unfortunate  canticle  is  by  David  put  in  the  mouth  of  rebels,  whose 
plots  are  raised  against  the.  Lord  and  against  his  Christ." — (Hist, 
dcs  Variations,  liv.  i.,  §  26.) 

VOL.    II.  10 


122  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  nations  which  then  severed  the  tie  of  religious  unity ! 
We  see  them  exchanging  the  Catholic  doctrine,  which  for 
fifteen  centuries  had  guided  generations  of  Christians  into  the 
luminous  paths  of  truth  and  virtue,  for  the  incoherent,  fluctu- 
ating, absurd  and  supremely  immoral  speculations  of  a  few 
men  whose  heart  had  corrupted  their  understanding. 

Germany  revered,  as  a  prophet,  the  inventor  of  the  slavery 
of  the  will,  the  dissolute  monk  of  Wittemberg,  endowed,  it 
is  true,  with  great  eloquence,  but  at  the  same  time  an  impu- 
dent and  low  buffoon,  dogmatizing  in  taverns  amid  the  fumes 
of  beer,  incredibly  violent  in  his  bursts  of  passion,*  and  out- 
raging in  his  fury  that  same  Bible  which  he  presented  for  the 
only  rule  of  faith. 

A  part  of  Switzerland  poured  out  its  blood  to  defend  the  noc- 
turnal visions  of  Zvvingle.f  Geneva  professed  the  frightful 
doctrines  of  Calvin  and  drove  brutally  from  her  walls  or 
burned  alive  those  who  dared  to  protest  against  the  defini- 
tions of  her  sanguinary  apostle. 

England,  in  order  to  free  herself  from  what  was  called 
papal  tyranny,  humbly  bestowed  the  spiritual  supremacy  on 
the  abominable  tyrant,  who,  according  to  his  own  avowal, 
never  spared  the  life  of  a  man  or  the  honor  of  a  woman. 
Some  years  later,  the  worthy  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.  and 
Anna  Boleyn  took  the  title  of  reigning  Sovereign  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  and  from  the  interior  of  the  palace  where 
she  lived,  surrounded  by  a  throng  of  lovers,  spies  and  execu- 
tioners, that  cruel  woman  created  a  new  religion  for  her  sub- 
jects, and  placed  the  English  between  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles and  the  Scaffold. 

*  "I  tremble,"  exclaimed  Melancthon,  "when  I  think  of  the  pas- 
sions of  Luther.  They  do  not  yield  in  violence  to  the  rage  of  Her- 
cules ;"  and  he  acknowledges  that  he  has  received  blows  from  him. — 
(Leltre  u  Theodore.) 

j  See  Hisloire  des  Variations,  liv.  ii.,  §  27. 


SPIRITUAL    DESPOTISM    OF    SOVEREIGNS.         123 

If  we  follow  Protestantism  through  its  innumerable  reli- 
gious transformations,  from  its  origin  in  the  brain  of  Luther 
to  the  last  founder  of  the  last  in  date  of  the  thousand  and 
one  religions  that  it  has  produced  ;  always  and  everywhere  we 
shall  see  it  tossed  from  system  to  system  at  the  sport  of  influ- 
ential  ministers  or  absurd  visionaries,  submitting  alternately 
or  simultaneously  to  the  direction  of  innumerable  popes,  all 
more  powerful  than  the  Roman  Pontiff,  since  in  religion  they 
play  the  part  of  inventors. 

And  what  are  these  names,  of  Lutherans,  Zwinglians,  Cal 
vinists,  Melancthonians,  Gomarists,  Arrninians,  Socinians, 
Mennonites,  Vaudois,  Swedenborgians,  Wesleyan  Methodists, 
Whitfieldian  Methodists,  and  numerous  others  equally  pecu- 
liar, if  not  the  badges  of  human  religion,  the  fatal  acknow- 
ledgment that  man  has  placed  his  mind  and  conscience  at 
the  mercy  of  a  man  ? 

The  liberty  of  interpreting  the  Bible  at  one's  pleasure,  and 
creating  religions,  monopolized  at  first  by  party  leaders,  soon 
became,  under  the  Reformation,  the  exclusive  privilege  of 
temporal  sovereigns,  who,  "  imagined,"  says  a  profound  con- 
troversialist, "  that  they  must  believe  for  their  subjects,  and 
that  their  own  opinion  was  the  supreme  law."  *  Thus,  we 
see  pastors  and  their  flocks  drilling  like  lacqueys,  under  the 
iron  crook  of  kings  and  sovereign  lords,  and  frequently  re- 
ceiving orders  to  change  their  religion,  from  a  foster  father  or 
mother,  a  prince  or  princess,  countersigned  by  a  regent  of 
one  sex  or  the  other. 

Nothing,  in  truth,  is  more  natural  or  more  just  than  this 
religious  omnipotence  of  temporal  sovereigns  in  reformed 
countries.  Is  not  Protestantism  indebted  to  them  for  its  ex- 
istence ?  Who  could,  without  doing  violence  to  history,  dis- 
pute with  Henry  VIII.  and  Elizabeth,  with  Frederic  of  Saxony, 
Philip  of  Hesse,  and  other  German  Electors  and  Princes,  with 

*  Moehler,  Symbolism,  introd.,  p.  69. 


124  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Frederic  I.  of  Denmark,  Gustavus  Vas.i  in  Sweden,  the 
Prince  of  Orange  in  Holland,  the  Lords  of  Berne  in  Swit- 
zerland, the  glory  of  submitting  their  people  to  the  New 
Gospel  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  Moreover,  could  a  reli- 
gious system,  which  gives  every  one  liberty  of  action,  \\liilc 
it  grants  liberty  of  belief,  and  which  made  its  entrance  into 
the  world  amid  the  ferocity  of  the  Anabaptists  and  the  cruel 
peasants'  war,  be  restrained  by  political  chiefs,  under  pain  of 
seeing  the  States  deluged  with  blood  ?  It  was  very  wise, 
then,  for  princes  to  'attach  religion  to  their  territory,  and  sub- 
mit consciences  to  a  fiscal  imposition. 

Some  of  them,  as  Elizabeth,  Gustavus  Vasa,  and  Fred- 
eric I.,  wishing  to  put  an  end  to  the  too  prolific  action  of 
the  Bible,  which,  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  brought  forth 
every  day  some  new  religion,  saw  fit  to  oppose  to  it  some 
royal  religions,  with  an  order  to  their  courts  of  justice  to 
treat  as  a  felon  and  as  guilty  of  high  treason,  any  one  who 
should  undertake  to  give  the  Bible  an  interpretation  contrary 
to  the  royal  exegesis.* 

Other  princes,  as  the  German  nobles,  preferred  to  reserve 
to  themselves  the  amusement  of  seeing  their  people  rove  from 
Lutheranism  to  Calvinism,  from  Calvinism  to  Lutheranism, 
or  to  any  other  religion  which  pleased  them.  Thus,  in  the 
Palatinate,  Frederic  III.  changed  his  subjects  from  Lutherans 
to  Calvinists,  then  gave  them  a  catechism  of  his  own  inven- 
tion, in  1562.  At  his  death,  in  1576,  his  son  Louis  re-esta- 
blished Lutheranism;  but,  in  1582,  another  Frederic  restored 
to  their  dignity  the  dogmas  of  Calvin,  and  ordered  submission 
to  the  decisions  of  Dort  under  pain  of  banishment. 

In  the  principality  of  Anhalt  Dessau,  John  George  sub- 
stituted, in  1586,  the  Calvinistic  worship  for  the  Lutheran, 

*  For  England,  see  Cobbett,  Letters  on  the  Reformation.  Cam- 
den,  Annales,  &c.,  1571.  For  Sweden,  the  fact  cited  above  (chap.  19) 
proves  that  Gustavus  Vasa  always  ruled  the  consciences  of  his  subjects. 


SPIRITUAL    DESPOTISM    OF    SOVEREIGNS.         125 

and  published,  in  1597,  a  symbol,  in  twenty-eight  articles, 
obligatory  under  pain  of  exile.  Prince  John  succeeded  him, 
and  ordered,  under  the  same  penalty,  a  return  to  Lutheranism. 

In  Hesse  Cassel,  the  Landgrave  Maurice  deposed  the  Lu- 
theran ministers,  gave  their  pulpits  to  the  Calvinists,  and  im- 
posed on  the  Hessians  the  Confession  of  Dort. 

In  Brandebourg,  the  Margrave,  John  Sigismund,  in  1614, 
abandoned  for  himself  and  followers  the  Lutheran  doctrine,  and 
established  Calvinism,  with  the  ameliorations,  however,  furnish- 
ed by  the  particular  creed  which  he  gave  to  his  dear  flock.* 

But  all  these  religious  manifestations  are  thrown  into  the 
shade  by  the  achievement  of  evangelical  amalgamation  effected 
in  our  own  time  by  the  King  of  Prussia,  Frederic  William  III. 

This  prince,  after  the  frosts  of  Russia  had  freed  him  from 
the  terrible  conqueror  who  had  made  Berlin  one  of  his  plea- 
sure houses,  appeared  to  have  but  one  idea — that  of  abolishing 
the  Catholic  Church  in  his  states,  and  rebuilding  on  its  ruins 
the  already  decayed  temple  of  Protestantism.  His  zeal  was 
only  more  inflamed  by  his  various  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
range  under  the  same  standard  the  numerous  and  turbulent 
families  who  had  sprung  from  the  bosom  of  reform. 

From  1817  to  1834,  when  he  gave  the  finishing  touch  to 
his  Evangelical  Church  of  the  Rhine,  there  issued  from  the 
royal  head  a  series  of  circulars,  regulations,  statutes,  ordi- 
nances, and  edicts,  which  in  volume  would  compare  with  the 
complete  works  of  Luther.  But  the  most  important  docu- 
ment is  the  Agenda  or  Ritual,  issued  in  182G,  and  regulating 
the  divine  service  of  the  new  worship.  A  species  of  mass 
was  prescribed,  with  crucifix,  candles,  and  incense,  the  chant- 
ing of  the  Kyrie  Eleison,  with  a  kind  of  German  Gloria, 
Credo,  Preface,  Dominus  vobiscum,  Amen  and  Alleluia ;  in  a 
word,  it  was,  for  the  most  part,  a  restoration  of  what  had 
hitherto  been  called  the  superstitions  of  the  Romish  Church. 

*  See  Moehler,  Symbolism,  introd.,  p.  69,  70. 
11* 


126          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Yet,  by  a  truly  paternal  attention,  the  doctrine  of  the  real 
presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  supper  was  preserved  to  the 
Lutherans ;  and  to  the  Calvinists,  the  doctrine  of  the  mystical 
presence  was  allowed ;  so  that  the  minister  who  administered 
the  supper  must  say  to  the  Lutheran  communicant:  Receive 
tliejlesh  and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  Calvinist,  placed 
at  his  side  :  Receive  the  figure  ofthejlesh  and  blood! 

The  little  bell  was  found ;  nothing  was  necessary  but  to 
attach  it  to  the  neck  of  some  thousand  of  ministers — Luther- 
ans, Calvinists,  Prelates,  Rationalists,  and  Super-rationalists, 
&c.  The  difficulty  did  not  intimidate  Frederic  William, 
who,  failing  of  theological  arguments,  had  in  reserve  two 
hundred  thousand  bayonets,  and  justly  thought,  that  ministers 
armed  only  with  the  Bible  would  be  more  tractable  than  the 
soldiers  of  Napoleon. 

The  order  was  issued  from  Berlin,  Feb.  28,  1834,  to  con- 
form to  the  Agenda,  and  the  troops  marched  against  those 
who  made  a  show  of  resistance.  Insubordinate  ministers 
were  supplanted.  Of  two  who  alone  dared  to  raise  their  voice, 
one  was  imprisoned,  and  the  other  banished.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  village  of  Oels,  in  Silesia,  obstinately  refused  to  open 
their  temples  to  the  ministers  of  the  new  worship.  A  batta- 
lion arrived,  killed  or  wounded  a  score  of  rebels,  and  twelve 
or  fourteen  bailiffs  established  in  each  family,  soon  forced 
these  brave  people  to  confess  the  doctrinal  infallibility  of  the 
prince.* 

Is  anything  more  needed  to  show  the  frightful  intellectual 
degradation  into  which  Protestantism  has  led  its  partisans  ? 
It  is,  however,  from  the  ranks  of  this  religion,  which  has  in- 
flicted upon  twenty  Christian  nations  injuries  unknown  to  the 
followers  of  Buddha,  that  professors  of  philosophy  and  history 

*  See  with  regard  to  these  evangelical  expeditions,  the  journals  of 
the  period,  especially  the  Universal  Gazette,  of  Augsburg,  Dec.  1S31; 
Jan.  1S35. 


ACTUAL    PROTESTANTISM. 


have  come  forth,  who,  from  the  chairs  of  our  universities  have 
dared  Co  cast  upon  Catholic  nations  the  reproach  of  servility, 
and  claim  for  their  king-worshipping  sects  the  glory  of  having 
enfranchised  human  thought. 

In  fact,  there  are  men  who  wish  to  excel  in  impudence  and 
provoke  contempt. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

THE    SAME    SUBJECT    CONTINUED. ACTUAL    PROTESTANTISM. 

ENTHUSIASTIC    SECTS. RATIONALISTS. SERVILITY 

OF    BOTH. 

I  AM  aware  of  the  efforts  of  the  Protestant  writers  of  our 
day  to  free  themselves  from  the  responsibility  of  so  much 
meanness,  and  relieve  their  churches  from  the  ignominy  with 
which  they  are  invested  by  uncompromising  history. 

If  we  trust  to  them,  Protestantism  has  nothing  in  common 
with  these  contemptible  parodies  of  Catholicism,  so  long 
enacted,  in  despite  of  its  fundamental  principle,  by  men  who 
did  not  comprehend  it,  or  who  feigned  not  to  do  so.  This 
was,  at  most,  only  a  purifying  process,  necessary  to  the 
newly-born  among  the  Papist  impurities,  which  sullied  his 
cradle.  Is  it  astonishing,  that,  bursting  the  narrow  swaddling 
clothes  in  which  the  Church  had  compressed  him  for  fifteen 
hundred  years,  three  centuries  were  required  to  break  his  bonds 
and  overcome  his  profound  lethargy  ?  Now  that  so  many  royal 
hands  have  completely  roused  him,  he  will  define  for  us  the 
idea  which  agitated  him  almost  unconsciously,  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  That  idea  was  liberty  of  examination,  opinion,  and 
worship ;  it  was  the  principle  of  liberty  and  individuality  ap- 
plied to  the  affairs  of  religion;  it  was  irreconciledble  hatred 


128  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

against  all  authority  in  religion ;  it  was  the  insurrection  of 
the  human  mind  against  absolute  power  in  the  spiritual  order.* 

Let  us  admit  that  Protestantism  has  not  been  comprehend- 
ed, either  by  its  authors  or  its  partisans,  and  that,  born  blind, 
it  did  not  open  its  eyes  until  the  nineteenth  century ;  still  it 
has  always  made  a  poor  commencement,  as  far  as  concerns 
independence,  and,  judging  by  the  sports  of  its  protracted 
childhood,  it  will  not  make  much  progress. 

It  is  not,  however,  on  account  of  faithlessness  to  its  funda- 
mental principle  of  contempt  and  hatred  of  all  religious  au- 
thority, that  Protestantism  has  constantly  found  itself  exposed 
to  the  mercy  of  absurd  visionaries,  or  popes  reigning  over  the 
conscience  of  men  by  the  power  of  the  sabre.  This  subjec- 
tion is,  on  the  contrary,  the  inevitable  consequence  of  the 
insurrection  against  the  power  established  by  God  in  the 
spiritual  order. 

If  we  cast  an  intelligent  glance  over  history,  we  shall,  in 
every  part  of  it,  read  this  law  of  eternal  order :  Whoever  de- 
spises legitimate  authority  will  be  punished  with  slavery;  and 
the  more  legitimate  the  authority,  that  is,  marked  with  the 
divine  seal,  the  more  complete  and  degrading  will  be  the  ser- 
vitude. If  you  refuse  to  obey  those  whom  God  has  chosen 
for  your  parents,  you  will  be  lead  as  the  blind,  by  fools,  or 
bound  by  executioners.  The  first  slave  of  whom  mention  is 
made  in  the  first  history  was  a  rebellious  son.f 

In  vain  does  man  affect,  in  our  day,  that  absolute  indepen- 
dence which  is  only  granted  to  the  wild  ass  of  the  desert.^ 
The  nineteenth  century  will  see  what  all  ages  have  seen,  man 

*  See  M.  Vinet,  Professor  at  Lausanne,  Supplement  to  No.  129  of 
the  J\"arrateur  Religieux.  M.  Guizot,  Cours  d'Histoire.  Modernc, 
Le£on  12th. 

t  Maledictus  Chanaan,  servus  servorum  erit  fratribus  suis.  (Genes, 
ix.  25.) 

%  Vir  vanus  in  superbiam  erigitur,  et  tanquam  pullum  onagri  se 
liberum  natum  putat  (Job  xi.  12.) 


ACTUAL    PROTESTANTISM.  129 


panting  under  the  debasing  power  of  man,  in  proportion  to 
the  efforts  he  makes  to  throw  off  the  yoke  of  divine  power. 

Look  more  closely  at  Protestantism  as  it  is,  and  it  will  not 
be  found  less  enslaved  at  the  present  day  than  it  was  for- 
merly. Its  fundamental  principle  of  individualism  in  religious 
matters  destroying,  as  we  have  seen,  the  human  foundation 
of  Christian  faith,  as  the  rational  conviction  that  it  is  in  pos- 
session of  the  true  doctrine  of  Jesus  Christ,  has  placed  inevi- 
tably the  human  mind  between  the  rationalism  which  excludes 
all  belief,  and  the  blind  faith  which  excludes  all  reason. 
Thus,  the  innumerable  fractions  which  it  contains  are  all 
arranged  under  two  very  distinct  banners :  on  one  side,  en- 
thusiastic believers,  who  still  profess  the  divinity  of  Christ 
and  the  Bible,  such  as  the  Pietists,  in  Germany,  and  the 
Quakers  and  Methodists  in  England  and  the  United  States ; 
on  the  other  side,  the  Socinians,  Latitudinarians,  and  Ra- 
tionalists, who,  denying  or  questioning  the  divine  mission  of 
Christ,  which  is  acknowledged  in  the  Koran,  are,  in  fact,  less 
Christian  than  the  disciples  of  Mahomet.  But,  neither  the 
former  in  their  faith,  nor  the  latter  in  their  unbelief,  offer  us 
that  high  intellectual  independence  which  the  Reformation 
boasts  of  having  given  to  the  world. 

And,  in  the  first  place,  does  it  become  the  ignorant  and 
blindly-guided  disciples  of  Spener,  Zinzendorf,  George  Fox, 
and  John  Wesley,  to  boast  of  their  freedom  of  thought — they 
who,  rejecting  every  other  light  than  that  of  divine  inspira- 
tion, have  formally  renounced  the  right  of  thinking  in  matters 
of  religion,  and  blindly  follow  the  impulse  of  the  visionaries 
or  impostors  who  direct  them? 

If  we  see  the  most  numerous  and  active  of  these  sectarians, 
the  Methodists,  reproducing,  with  a  rare  intrepidity,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  long-banished  dogmas  of 
Calvin,  it  is  because  no  enthusiastic  sect  has  ever  possessed, 
in  the  same  degree,  the  art  of  suppressing  reason  and  exciting 


130  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  brain.  It  might  be  said,  that  the  genius  who  gave  to  the 
Romans  the  idea  of  the  legion,  has  revealed  to  the  children 
of  Wesley  the  magnetic  power  of  the  Revival.*  What  ad- 
mirable innocence  is  that  of  the  little  flock  to  whom  the  min- 
ister, when  he  has  forgotten  the  hour  for  preaching,  can  uncere- 
moniously say :  "  Be  not  surprised  at  my  delay,  my  brethren  ; 
I  have  just  had  a  conversation  with  Christ  on  the  vine!"f 

Is  it  among  the  large  class  of  indifferent  persons  and 
ministers  who  wish  no  longer  to  speak  of  dogmas,  in 
any  form,  that  we  shall  find  the  free-thinkers  of  the  Refor- 
mation ? 

*  Let  us  see  the  operation  of  the  Revival  or  regeneration  in  the 
United  States,  where  the  Methodists  enjoy  almost  unbounded  liberty. 
"  They  establish,  during  fine  summer  weather,  a  camp  meeting,  assem- 
bling in  the  forest  to  the  number  of  two  or  three  thousand,  without 
counting  spectators.  They  make  huts  of  the  branches  of  trees,  the 
whole  of  which  forms  a  vast  circular  inclosure.  There,  elevated  on  a 
platform,  preachers,  with  stentorian  voice,  address  the  multitude  in 
turn  for  five  or  six  days,  from  five  to  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
from  sunset  to  near  midnight;  and  what  do  they  preach  ?  Hell,  with 
frightful  pictures  of  darkness,  flames,  and  demons.  The  women  have 
nervous  attacks ;  the  men  have  them  too,  or  profess  to  have  them. 
Both  roll  on  the  ground  of  the  inclosure.  The  preachers  and  their  as- 
sistants hasten  to  the  spot:  It  is  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they 
cry,  howling  into  the  ears  of  these  maniacs.  They  turn  them  over, 
they  move  them  from  place  to  place,  whilst  the  male  and  female  pa- 
tients, the  last  always  the  most  numerous,  send  forth  convulsive  sobs, 
utter  groans  and  inarticulate  cries.  The  scene  becomes  more  and  more 
animated;  the  spectators  have  soon  before  their  eyes  only  a  horrible 
confusion  of  arms,-  legs,  and  heads,  beating  pell-mell  against  the 
ground.  This  is  termed  receiving  the  spirit.  But  what  spirit  ?  What 
takes  place  in  the  tents  by  lamp-light  or  even  sun-light  cannot  be  de- 
scribed." (Mcs  Doutcs,  torn.  ii.  p.  19.) 

f  This  is  the  excellent  excuse  which  M.  Malan,  pastor  of  the  Gene- 
vese  Methodists,  gave  to  his  audience,  one  day  when  he  had  kept  them 
waiting  more  than  half-an-hour.  (See  Voyage  pittoresqite,  historiqne 
ct  lillcraire  de  Geneve,  by  M.  Lalande,  ch.  xxxiii.  Jlmi  de  la  Re- 
ligion, Feb.  4th,  1S43.) 


ACTUAL    PROTESTANTISM.  131 

As  I  have  previously  shown,  nothing  degrades  and  para- 
lyzes the  intellect  more  than  indifference  and  unbelief.*  If 
there  is  a  fact  proved  to  the  conscientious  observer,  it  is  that 
unbelievers  are  all  on  trust  so,  and  reject  Christian  creeds 
through  pure  credulity.  Who  among  them  could  say,  without 
violating  his  conscience :  No  one  has  taught  me  to  disbe- 
lieve; if  I  despise  all  religions,  it  is  because  the  profound 
study  I  have  made  of  them  has  revealed  to  me  their  falseness. 

Are  not  these  two  principles,  which  are  at  the  foundation 
of  Protestant  unbelief  and  philosophic  incredulity — that  every 
one  is  a  judge,  in  a  last  appeal,  of  the  Bible ;  that  every  one 
must  admit  only  that  of  which  his  reason  clearly  forms  an 
idea — articles  of  faith  adopted  confidently  on  the  word  of 
Luther,  Socinus,  or  Jean  Jacques  ?  Could  axioms  so  prolific 
of  absurdities,  even  when  not  considered  in  themselves  or  in 
their  applications,  be  the  fruit  of  an  independent  and  consi- 
derate reasoning? 

Either  the  unbeliever  is  lulled  into  indifference  while  he 
renounces  the  knowledge  of  moral  truth,  or  what  is  he? 
His  soul,  a  stranger  to  the  sublime  realities  of  the  invisible 
order,  of  which,  however,  it  makes  a  part,  is  transferred 
into  the  service  of  the  vile  appetites  of  the  body:  it  is  a 
grain  of  salt  which  the  hand  of  the  Creator  has  mingled  with 
a  mass  of  flesh  to  prevent  it  from  corrupting.-  If,  on  the 
contrary,  the  unbeliever  seeks  the  immoveable  rock  of  truth 
in  the  deep  void  of  his  individual  thought,  will  he  do  more 
than  exhaust  himself  in  the  pursuit  of  phantoms,  and  revolve 
forever  in  the  circle  of  human  dreams  ? 

Let  us  finish  with  one  fact,  which  confirms  what  we  have 
said  of  the  servile  tendencies  of  Protestantism.  It  has  put  in 
circulation  those  two  principles,  unknown  to  antiquity:  an 
honest  man  never  changes  his  religion.  We  must  live  and  die 
in  the  religion  of  our  fathers.  Absurd  propositions,  which 
*  See  1st  Problem,  ch.  4th,  53. 


132  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

betray  an  extreme  incapacity  for  reflection  or  a  disgusting 
servility. 

Indeed,  what  does  this  signify  ?  That  an  honest  man  must 
be  either  so  stupid  as  never  to  perceive  the  falseness  of  the 
religion  in  which  he  has  had  the  misfortune  to  be  born,  or  so 
hypocritical  as  to  conceal  his  religious  convictions,  and  sport, 
even  to  death,  with  God,  his  conscience,  and  his  fellow-men. 
What  more  can  be  said  ?  That,  if  it  pleased  our  fathers  to 
adore  a  cat,  after  the  manner  of  the  Egyptians,  and  to  eat 
men  in  honor  of  the  gods,  as  the  Anthropophagi  of  the  South 
Sea,  we  must  live  and  die  like  them,  adorers  of  cats  and  de- 
vourers  of  men. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

ADVANTAGES    OF   THE    CATHOLIC    METHOD. RELIGIOUS 

EQUALITY    AND    UNITY. — CONCLUSION. 

EVERY  one  must  now  see  the  truth  of  what  I  have  already 
advanced — that  the  Catholic  system  is  the  only  one  in  which 
there  exists,  in  principle  and  practice,  true  independence  of 
conscience  and  of  thought. 

There  alone  reigns  perfect  freedom  of  mind,  which  docs 
not  consist,  indeed,  in  rejecting  religious  authority,  as  the 
Protestants,  who,  depriving  themselves  of  every  means  of  ar- 
riving with  certainty  at  religious  truth,  introduce  moral  sui- 
cide ;  but,  in  freeing  one's  self  from  the  darkness  of  error  and 
from  the  endless  fluctuations  of  human  opinion,  by  the  certain 
possession  of  divine  truth.* 

It  is  only  there  that  true  intellectual  force  prevails  ;  for  the 
intellect  is  only  strong  through  the  truths  which  she  possesses, 
*  Veritas  liberabit  vos.  (John  viii.  32.) 


RELIGIOUS    EQUALITY    AND    UNITY.  133 

and  her  steps  in  the  intellectual  world  are  only  falls,  or  idle 
groping,  whenever  she  departs  from  the  landmarks  planted 
by  Christ. 

There  human  thought  alone  becomes  immeasurably  en- 
nobled and  elevated  by  its  union  with  the  divine  thought, 
whilst  everywhere  else  it  creeps  on  the  earth,  and  is  dragged 
along  by  man.  The  Catholic  believes  in  God  alone;  he 
knows  that  the  divine  word,  entrusted  to  the  Universal  Church, 
can  neither  be  lost  nor  sullied  in  passing  through  the  human 
mouth  which  transmits  it. 

There  alone  is  found  true  equality,  minds  enlightened  by 
the  same  knowledge,  and  wills  restrained  by  the  same  duties. 
Governing  and  governed,  pontiffs  and  people,  the  highest 
genius  and  the  lowest  intellect,  descend  to  the  same  level,  or 
rather  rise  on  the  wings  of  faith,  to  the  height  of  the  same 
conceptions.  In  the  order  of  necessary  truths,  Bossuet  and 
Fenelon  know  nothing  which  a  peasant  boy  of  twelve  years 
old  does  not  know  as  well  as  they.  Each  knows  enough  to 
guide  himself,  no  one  enough  to  elevate  him  above  his  breth- 
ren. An  admirable  and  divine  system,  where  the  learned 
man  is  obliged  to  humiliate  himself  to  the  simplicity  of  the 
child,  and  the  child  is  elevated  to  the  wisdom  of  the  learned, 
that  all  may  respect  and  love  each  other  as  the  children  and 
disciples  of  the  same  Father  and  the  same  Master. 

On  the  other  hand,  reward  pride,  as  Protestantism  does,  by 
proportioning  religious  knowledge  to  the  intellectual  power 
of  each  individual,  you  consecrate  intellectual  inequality  in 
religion,  and  inequality  on  this  point  will  sanctify  all  other 
kinds  of  inequality ;  for  it  is  intellectual  power  which  classes 
men  and  governs  the  world.  But  this  consideration  belongs 
more  properly  elsewhere. 

Finally,  in  Catholicism  alone  is  found  the  divine  character 
of  unity.  Let  us  allow  an  eloquent  controversialist  to  cele- 
brate "  that  sacred  union  which  connects  men  not  only  so 

VOL.  it.  12 


134          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

far  as  to  make  them  citizens  of  the  same  society,  but  mem- 
members  of  a  mystic  body,  not  collected  together  by  the  sen- 
timent of  mutual  wants,  not  united  by  the  ties  of  blood  and 
of  kindred  or  by  temporary  interests,  but  joined,  or  if  I  may 
so  say,  blended  in  the  adoration  of  Him  be}rond  whom  human 
thought  cannot  ascend ;  meeting  in  these  high  moral  and 
intellectual  regions,  iu  the  warm  atmosphere  of  chanty,  and 
laboring  in  common,  not  to  increase  the  wealth  and  power 
of  the  common  societ\',  but  to  enrich  and  adorn  it  with  new 
virtues  ;  still  more,  resisting  nothing  but  their  passions,  hating 
nothing  but  vice,  and  walking  as  belongs  to  intelligent  chil- 
dren, not  with  their  eyes  cast  down  upon  the  miserable  goods 
of  earth,  but  fixed  on  Heaven  ! 

"  Reflect  again  upon  the  incontestable  superiority  of  this 
influence  over  all  the  influences  which  can  contribute  to  the 
union  of  men.  Religious  unity,  in  fact,  soaring  in  a  sphere 
superior  to  those  partial  sympathies  in  laws,  customs  and  in- 
terests, which  only  act  for  a  limited  time  and  in  a  limited 
circle,  is  neither  circumscribed  by  rivers  nor  mountains;  it 
traverses  the  vast  extent  of  seas  to  place  in  the  mouth  of 
nations,  the  most  unlike  and  the  most  distant  from  each  other, 
the  same  hymn  of  praise ;  in  their  mind  the  same  symbol  of 
faith,  in  their  heart  the  same  sentiment  of  charity;  every- 
where teaching  the  same  doctrine,  and  announcing  by  the 
thousand  voices  of  its  ministers  the  same  truth,  it  prostrates 
vast  multitudes  before  the  same  altar;  each  of  those  souls 
whom  it  unites  on  all  points  of  the  globe,  in  a  holy  commu- 
nity of  prayer  and  love,  is,  as  it  were,  suspended  by  one  of 
those  innumerable  golden  chains  which  all  meet  and  join  in 
the  hand  of  God,  that  intellectual  Sun :  as  the  rays  of  the 
material  sun  diffused  through  space,  all  meet  at  that  centre 
<?>f  fire  which  we  see  sparkling  above  our  heads."  * 

Compare  with  this  vast  society,  whose  members,  scattered 
*  Wiseman,  Lectures,  &c.,  vol.  i.,  p.  206. 


SACRAMENTS.  135 


over  the  face  of  the  earth,  have  all  but  one  creed,  one  altar, 
one  voice,  the  reformed  Churches  with  their  thousand  creeds 
and  thousand  discordant  voices,  and  of  whom  according  to 
Tertullian,  schism  constitutes  the  unity;*  then,  with  your 
hand  upon  your  heart,  ask  yourself,  on  which  side  are  found 
the  children  of  truth  and  love,  and  on  which  side  the  victims 
of  error  and  pride. 


I  think  it  has  been  sufficiently  demonstrated,  that  the  Catho- 
lic system,  reconciling  the  respective  claims  of  divine  and 
human  reason,  is  the  only  one  which  can  unite  our  thought 
to  the  thought  of  God,  and  place  us  in  the  situation  to  render 
to  the  supreme  intelligence  the  homage  of  a  faith  immove- 
able  in  its  foundation,  and  enlightened  and  rational  in  its 
motives. 

Let  us  now  see  if  this  system  so  adapted  to  give  stability 
to  the  understanding  has  equal  power  to  warm  and  elevate 
the  heart. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

CHRISTIAN    DEIFICATION    OF    MAN. GRACE. ITS    DEFIN- 
ITION,   ITS    NECESSITY. SACRAMENTS. 

THE  aim  proposed  to  man  by  Jesus  Christ,  is  indeed 
placed  at  an  alarming  elevation.  Be  you,  therefore,  perfect 
as  also  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect.^ 

This  is  progress,  without  doubt,  upon  the  most  gigantic 
scale ;  but  it  is  also  the  evident  tendency  of  humanity. 
When  the  father  of  lies  said  to  Eve :  You  shall  be  as 

*  Quibus  schisma  unitas  est.     De  Prescript.,  §  42. 
t  Matth.  v.  48. 


136  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Gods*  he  only  touched  the  strongest  fibre  of  the  human 
heart. 

Man  having  left  God  desires  to  return  to  God;  and  if  he 
is  ignorant  of  the  true  means  of  deifying  himself  he  will  over- 
throw the  political  and  intellectual  world  to  exalt  himself  into 
a  divinity.  Behold,  here,  the  haughty  conqueror  who  says  to 
a  hundred  subject  people :  "  Adore  me,  for  I  am  God."| 
There,  see  the  proud  philosopher  who,  not  being  able  to  arro- 
gate divine  honors  exclusively  to  himself,  deifies  humanity  in 
the  mass,  and  exclaims:  We  are  all  God. 

The  Divine  restorer  of  fallen  man  must  then  open  to  us 
the  true  road  which  leads  from  the  degradation  of  the  carnal 
life  to  the  height  of  the  spiritual  and  divine  life ;  but  how  are 
we  to  be  induced  to  walk  in  it  ? 

If  it  is  easy  for  the  mind  to  ascend  to  God  on  the  wings  of 
faith,  it  is  not  so  with  the  heart,  that  weak  and  low  and  lan- 
guid portion  of  the  human  being.  Who  can  lift  it  to  heaven, 
the  heart,  which  never  rises  above  the  earth  except  to  soar 
into  space  upon  the  capricious  breath  of  pride !  To  inflame 
the  heart  with  Divine  love,  to  regulate  its  affections  and 
desires  according  to  the  affections  and  good  pleasure  of  God. 
is  the  achievement  of  grace. 

*  Genes,  iii.  5. 

t  Napoleon,  who  sometimes  forgot  in  the  intoxication  of  power,  as 
he  afterward  avowed,  that  he  was  a  Christian,  often  appeared  to  regret 
the  time  when  princes  had  absolute  power  over  the  mind  and  body.  He 
said  one  day  to  the  grand-master  of  the  University :  "  I  was  not  born 
in  my  right  time,  Monsieur  de  Fontanes :  see  Alexander  the  Great ;  he 
could  call  himself  the  son  of  Jupiter,  without  contradiction.  As  for 
me,  in  this  age  I  find  a  priest  more  powerful  than  I,  for  he  reigns  over 
souls,  and  I  reign  only  over  matter." — {Histoire  tie  Pie  VII.,  by  M. 
Arland,  ch.  xxix.)  In  this  the  reflective  man  finds  an  excellent  demon- 
stration of  the  following  truth  :  Without  one  sole  head,  invested  with 
the  supreme  spiritual  power,  and  independent  of  political  powir, 
Eur;>pe  jiould  still  be  Pagan,  or  would  at  once  infallibly  become  so. 


SACRAMENTS.  137 


But  what  is  grace  ?  will  the  man  ask,  who  has  never 
availed  himself  of  it.  Let  us  speak  to  this  son  of  earth  in 
a  language  which  he  can  understand.  "  Have  you  never 
experienced,"  I  would  say  to  him,  "  the  inexplicable  but  very 
real  power  of  the  graces  of  this  world  ?  Has  your  heart 
never  pursued  the  enchanting  vision  of  glory  through  the 
field  of  battle,  or  the  difficult  parts  of  science  ?  Has  it  never 
taken  wing  to  follow  some  earthly  beauty?  And  is  it  not 
true  that  while  you  have  been  under  the  spell,  the  labors  of 
Hercules  have  seemed  to  you  less  fabulous  ?  In  this,  behold 
what  the  Christian  soul  experiences,  only  in  a  higher  degree, 
when  rising  by  reflection  and  prayer  above  the  sphere  of  the 
body,  a  ray  of  infinite  beauty  appears  to  him  and  enkindles 
in  his  heart  the  flame  of  love ;  when  contemplating  the  mag- 
nificent crowns  and  the  eternal  triumph  of  the  conquerors  of 
hell,  of  the  flesh  and  the  world,  he  feels  the  beating  of  his 
heart  and  cries  with  a  noble  ambition :  And  I  also,  I  wish 
to  become  a  hero  of  eternity,  a  saint !  Is  it  possible  that  the 
infinite  centre  of  all  beauty,  of  all  greatness,  should  be  with- 
out its  influence  over  the  human  heart,  when  we  see  this  heart 
so  often  yielding  to  the  attractions  of  inferior  charms  and 
more  empty  greatness." 

Divine  grace,  then,  is  the  attraction  which  the  sublime  reali- 
ties of  the  invisible  world  exercise  over  the  mind  and  will  of 
man  ;  an  attraction  no  more  mysterious  and  no  less  real  than 
that  which  wheels  the  planets  around  their  centre,  with  this 
difference  that  the  one  is  involuntary  and  the  other  free. 

Grace  is,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  the  accompaniment  of 
revelation.  The  latter  is  the  action  of  God  upon  the  under- 
standing, enlightening  it,  and  teaching  it  what  we  should 
believe  and  practise :  the  former  is  the  action  of  God  upon 
the  heart  to  quicken  it  and  accustom  it  to  the  practice  of 
virtue. 

If  revelation  is   the  voice  of  our  Heavenly  Father  who 
12* 


138  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

stoops  to  our  ear  and  says  to  us :  "  What  are  you  doing  on 
the  earth,  my  children  ?  behold  this  beautiful  Heaven  where 
I  have  prepared  you  a  throne!"  Grace  is  the  paternal  hand 
of  the  Father  which  grasps  ours  while  he  says  to  us :  "  Cou- 
rage, my  children !  if  the  path  to  heaven  is  rough,  I  will 
sustain  your  steps." 

Now,  as  the  Divine  thought,  in  order  to  penetrate  our  intel- 
lect, which  is  veiled  in  a  gross  body,  must  assume  the  sensible 
form  of  external  speech,  so  grace  in  order  to  reach  the  heart 
must,  in  some  way,  incarnate  itself.  Hence  the  sacraments, 
which  are  according  to  the  Catholic  doctrine,  the  sensible  and 
productive  signs  of  grace. 

It  is  into  this  Christian  method  of  cure,  by  which  the  hea- 
venly physician  has  prepared  divine  cordials  for  the  soul,  that 
we  are  about  to  enter. 


CHAPTER    XXXV. 

FOUNDATION    OF   THE    CATHOLIC    THEORY    OF   JUSTIFICATION. 
FALL  OF  MATS'. KEDEMPTIOX HOW  IT  IS  APPLIED  TO  US. 

To  form  a  just  idea  of  the  Catholic  theory  concerning 
the  sacraments  and  the  justification  of  man,  we  must  go 
back  to  the  great  principles  of  Christian  philosophy  of  which 
this  theory  is  only  the  application. 

God,  because  He  is  He  who  is,  and  by  whom  all  things 
are,*  can  love  nothing  except  in  Himself  and  by  relation  to 
Himself.  All  being,  all  perfection  existing  in  Him  and  by 
Him,  what  could  He  love  beyond  Himself  and  His  works  ? 
Nothing  has  nothing  worthy  of  love. 

God  loves  himself  infinitely  in  his  Word,  in  which  he  sees 
*  Exod.  iii.  14. 


CATHOLIC    THEORY    OF    JUSTIFICATION.  139 

the  perfect  and  substantial  image  of  his  own  perfections ; 
it  is  also  in  his  Word  that  he  contemplates  with  love  his 
creatures,  for  it  is  by  it  that  he  has  drawn  from  nothing 
all  ihat  is  in  Heaven  and  on  the  earth,  things  visible  and 
invisible,  &c. ;  *  but  he  only  loves  these  beings  in  proportion 
to  the  resemblance  which  they  bear  to  himself,  that  is,  through 
their  conformity  to  the  Word.  None  among  them  will  find 
favor  in  his  sight  and  will  enter  into  his  glory,  except  the 
Heavenly  Father  sees  in  him  the  image  of  the  beloved  Son 
in  whom  alone  he  is  well  pleased,  f  It  is  in  this  sense  that 
the  Word,  although  it  be  the  only  and  eternal  Son  of  the 
Father,  is  so  often  called  the  first  born  of  all  creatures,  the 
representative,  the  archetype,  the  head  of  the  vast  family 
of  creatures.J 

Wo,  then,  to  the  creature,  who,  abusing  his  liberty,  wan- 
ders from  the  way  traced  out  for  him  by  the  Word,  in  which 
to  complete  the  divine  image !  This  did  the  rebel  angel. 
This  did  also  man,  at  the  instigation  of  the  fallen  angel. 

Adam,  by  his  rebellion,  threw  off  the  divine  character  of 
the  child  of  God,  and  became  justly  the  slave  of  the  rebel, 
whose  will  he  obeyed,  in  contempt  of  the  divine  will.  He 
transmitted  to  his  children  the  human  nature  which  he  fright- 
fully degraded ;  he  transmitted  it  to  his  children ;  and  these 
are  all  born  children  of  v:rath.§  Why?  Because  they  are 
all  jlcsh  ;|j  because  crime  has  changed  the  noble  instincts 
which  God  gave  to  innocent  man,  into  the  vile  and  brutal 

*  Qui  cum  sit  splendor  gloriae,  et  figura  substanties  ejus,  portansque 
omnia  verbo  virtutis  suae.  (Hebr.  i.  3.)  Qui  est  imago  Dei  invisibi- 
lis,  &c.  (Coloss.  i.  13.) 

f  Ques  prsescivit  et  pracdestinavit  conformes  fieri  imaginis  Filii  sui, 
&c.  (Rom.  viii.  29.) 

\  Primogenitus  omnis  creaturse  .  .  .  Ipse  est  ante  omnes,  et  omnia 
in  ipso  constant,  &c.  (Coloss.  i.  16,  et  seq.) 

§  Ephes.  ii.  3. — See  1st  Problem,  ch.  xxii. 

H  Genes,  vi.  3. 


140          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

appetites  which  too  often  sink  him  beneath  the  brute.  Do 
not  expect  that  heaven  will  ever  open  its  gates  to  this  de- 
graded being,  nor  that  the  Most  High  will  seat  him  upon  his 
throne.  Has  he,  then,  who  so  passionately  clings  to  earth, 
the  least  thought  of  heaven  ?  Certainly  not ;  flesh  and  blood 
can  never  possess  the  kingdom  of  God.* 

Divine  justice  required  the  death  of  man.  Mercy  pleaded 
for  his  pardon.  The  Word  reconciles  these  opposite  claims. 
With  a  devotion  which  captivates  the  adoration  and  love  of 
angels  and  of  men,  He  who  by  his  divine  nature  is  equal  to 
the  Father,  condescends  to  take  upon  himself  the  human  na- 
ture, the  degraded  nature  of  Adam,  without  the  sin  which  is 
humanly  inseparable  from  it.  We  have  seen  how  the  whole 
force  of  divine  justice  fell  upon  the  soul  and  body  of  the  great 
Victim.f  He  was  bruised  for  our  sins,  according  to  the  ex- 
pression of  the  prophet,!  and  the  body  which  the  God-Man 
held  from  Adam  by  his  mother,  nailed  to  the  infamous  wood, 
shed  from  its  veins  the  last  drop  of  a  blood,  pure,  it  is  true,  but 
proscribed  by  love,  and  abandoned  to  the  celestial  vengeance. 
Humanity,  purified  and  renewed  by  this  blood,  comes  forth 
triumphant  from  the  tomb,  where  it  must  descend  in  order  to 
fulfil  the  divine  decree :  Thou  shall  die,  and  return  to  the  dust ; 
and  soon  it  will  go  to  seat  itself  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father. 

Humanity  is  saved  !  But,  how  are  men  to  be  saved  ?  A 
question  which  will  seem  minute  to  our  pantheistic  thinkers, 
who  are  occupied  very  much  with  the  general,  and  not  at  all 
with  the  particular.  Of  what  importance  is  it  to  them  if  we 
all  should  disappear  under  the  bloody  car  of  humanitary  re- 
volutions, provided  that  humanity  advances  ?  This  question, 
however,  has  pre-occupied  the  mind  of  Christ ;  for  he  became 
man,  and  delivered  himself  up  to  death,  only  to  save  every 
individual  of  the  human  family.§ 

*  I.  Cor.  xv.  50.  t  See  1st  Problem,  ch.  xxx. 

f  Isa.  liii.  5.  §  Rom.  viii.  32.— Ephes.  v.  2. 


CATHOLIC    THEORY    OF    JUSTIFICATION.          141 

How  can  man,  then,  participate  here  below  in  the  justice 
and  sanctity  of  Jesus  Christ,  an  indispensable  condition  for 
sharing,  at  a  future  time,  his  glory?*  It  is  by  reproducing 
in  himself  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ ;  that  is  to  say,  by  putting 
aside  the  old  man,  and  his  corrupt  inclinations ;  by  the  cruci- 
fixion of  the  flesh  and  its  appetites ;  and  incorporating  himself 
with  the  new  man,  by  a  life  of  holiness  and  justice-^ 

It  is  in  this  moral  transubstantiation,  which  transforms  the 
corrupt  child  of  Adam  into  a  member  of  the  body  of  Christ,  liv- 
ing by  his  spirit,  that  the  work  of  the  regeneration  and  sanctifi- 
cation  of  man  consists ;  the  united  work  of  divine  activity  oper- 
ating through  grace,  and  of  human  activity,  which  excited  and 
strengthened  by  grace,  freely  co-operates  with  the  divine  action. 

It  is  to  effect,  maintain,  and  perfect  this  intimate  union  of 
man  with  Jesus  Christ,  that  the  evangelical  ministry  exclu- 
sively conspires,  that  all  the  powers  concur,  and  all  the  in- 
stitutions bequeathed  by  the  Savior  to  his  Church,  but,  above 
all,  the  sacraments. 

Let  us  cast  a  rapid  glance  over  what  I  shall  call  the  dyna- 
mics of  Catholicism,  and  admire  the  efficacy  of  its  means  for 
uniting  souls  to  their  divine  Head,  and  lifting  them  to  heaven. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

A    GLANCE    AT    THE    SACRAMENTS. PURGATORY. PRAYERS 

FOR    THE    DEAD. WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS. 

To  regenerate  man,  it  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to 
efface  the  odious  character  of  a  rebellious  child,  the  slave  of 

*  Rom.  viii.  17. 

(•  Deponere  .  .  .  veterem  hominem  qui  corrumpitur  secundum  desi- 
deria  erroris  .  .  .  et  induite  novum  hominem,  &c.  (Ephes.  iv.  22,24.) 
Qui  autem  Christi  sunt,  carnem  suam  crucifixerunt  cum  vitiis  et  con- 
cupiscentiis.  (Galat.  v.  24.) 


142  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Satan,  and  impress  upon  him  (he  divine  traits  of  him  who  has 
saved  us  by  obedience.  As  we  bring  into  being  the  image  of- 
the  terrestrial  man,  we  must,  as  the  apostle  says,*  take  at  the 
new  birth  the  resemblance  of  the  celestial  man.  Such  is  the 
effect  of  baptism,  in  which  the  soul  casts  off  the  sullied  image 
of  Adam,  and  clothes  itself  with  Jesus  Christ,  f 

If  it  is  an  adult,  before  the  baptism  he  must  be  instructed, 
open  his  mind  to  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  and  unite  his  thought 
to  that  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  tie  of  faith.J  He  must  open 
his  heart  to  penitence,  detest  his  sins,  and  renounce  them  for 
ever.  By  this  breaking  of  the  heart,  which  is  called  contri- 
tion, the  catechumen  is  united  to  Jesus  crucified ;  he  dies 
afterwards  with  him,  and  descends  into  the  tomb,  which  was 
typified  by  the  immersion  formerly  employed  in  baptism. 
The  Holy  Spirit,  hovering  over  the  baptismal  waters,  as  in 
the  first  days  of  creation  over  the  waters  of  chaos,§  to  im- 
pregnate them,  completes  the  destruction  of  the  old  man,  and 
communicates  to  this  mystic  dead  body  the  life  of  the  new 
Adam,  bathing  the  soul  in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  at  the 
same  time  that  the  body  is  baptized  with  it.||  The  neophyte 
comes  forth  from  the  sacred  font,  radiant  in  innocence ;  hea- 
ven opens  over  his  head,  and  his  heavenly  Father  says  to  the 
angels:  "Here  is  my  child,  the  living  image  of  my  well- 

*  Sicut  portavimus  imaginem  terreni,  portemus  et  imaginem  crelestis. 
(I.  Cor.  xv.  49.) 

f  Quicumque  enim  in  christo  baptizati,  estis,  christum  induisti. 
(Galat.  iii.  27.) 

f  The  regeneration  of  the  child  presented  at  the  sacred  font  is  the 
exclusive  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  Church.  Lost  by  an 
act  independent  of  his  will,  why  should  he  not  be  saved  in  the  same 
manner  ? 

§  Spiritus  dei  ferebatur  super  aquas.  (Genes,  i.  1.) 

||  St.  Paul  often  reveals  in  his  Epistles  the  deep  significance  of  the 
baptismal  rite.  An  ignoratis  quia  quicumque  baptizati  sumus  in 
Christo-Jesu  in  Morte  ipsius  baptizati  sumus  ?  Consepulti  enim  sumus 
cum  illo  per  baptismum  in  mortem,  &c.  (Rom.  vi.  3  et  seq.) 


WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS.  143 


beloved  Son !  Watch  over  him  with  love  along  the  road  that 
lends  him  to  his  destined  throne."  * 

The  new-born  soul  enters  upon  the  arena  of  the  world, 
where  it  must  choose  between  the  arduous  victories  which 
hoaven  crowns,  and  the  cowardly  defeats  which  lead  to  eter- 
nal servitude.  Feeble  as  we  always  are  at  the  entrance  upon 
life,  surrounded  by  the  thousand  dangers  which  besiege  in- 
fancy and  make  so  many  their  victims,  the  principle  of  divine 
life,  which  he  has  received  in  baptism,  must  be  unfolded,  ex- 
panded, and  strengthened. 

This  vital  principle  is  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  communi- 
cated more  abundantly  by  the  imposition  of  hands  of  the 
priest,  and  the  unction  of  the  holy  chrism.  That  spirit,  ac- 
cording to  the  promise  of  Jesus  Christ,  guards  the  spirit  of 
the  young  Christian  from  all  error,  by  teaching  him  all  truth, \ 
and  strengthens  his  heart  against  the  assaults  of  vice  by  un- 
folding in  it  the  germ  of  all  the  virtues. 

Such  is  the  Sacrament  of  Confirmation,  the  effect  of  which 
is  to  strengthen  in  the  faith,  and  to  make  the  perfect  Christian 
— a  sacrament  which  realizes  the  promise  of  Jesus  Christ,  to 
give  his  disciples  the  Spirit,  the  Comforter — a  promise  which 
St.  Peter  understands  as  extended  to  all  Christians  J — a  sac- 
rament which  we  find  the  Apostles  administering  after  bap- 
tism, and  which  St.  Paul  very  distinctly  mentions.^ 

The  permanent  union  of  the  Christian  with  Jesus  Christ  is 
especially  cemented  and  elevated  to  its  highest  perfection,  by 
the  eucharistic  bread,  that  centre  of  spiritual  light  and  heat. 
There  the  Author  of  life  himself,  entering  in  person  into  our 
souls,  unites  himself  as  closely  to  them  by  love,  as  he  is  united 
by  nature  to  the  divine  persons.  He  that  ealeth  myjlesli,  and 
drinketh  my  blood,  abideth  in  me,  and  I  in  him.  .  .  .  As  1 
live  by  the  Father,  so  he  that  eatelh  me  lives  by  me.\\ 

*  Matth.  iii.  ult.— Ps.  xc.  11.     f  John  xvi.  13.      J  Act  Ap.  ii.  38. 
§  Ibid.  viii.  17.— xix.  6.— II.  Cor.  i.  21.  ||  John  vi.  57. 


144  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Are  these  various  ties  \vliich  connect  the  Christian  soul 
\vith  (!ud,  destroyed  by  tlie  slow  or  sudden  eruption  of  the 
never  wholly  extinguished  fires  of  concupiscence?  and  does 
the  soldier  of  Christ,  invulnerable  while  united  to  his  Chief, 
receive  a  mortal  wound  from  the  assaults  of  his  passions? 
See  him  pierced  with  grief  and  shame  at  the  feet  of  the  spiri- 
tual physician,  to  whom  Christ  has  given  the  power  to  cure 
all  the  infirmities,  and  heal  all  the  wounds  of  the  soul.  The 
"lying  gladiator,  re-animated  by  divine  strength,  rises  at  these 
consoling  words:  "  Go,  my  l)rother,  in  peace,  and  repair  this 
defeat  by  new  triumphs."  This  is  the  Sacrament  of  Penance, 
instituted  for  the  remission  of  sins  committed  after  baptism  ; 
a  difficult  baptism,  according  to  the  Holy  Fathers ;  a  plank 
of  safely  offered  to  the  shipwrecked,  a  very  necessary  plank ; 
for  who  has  been  able  to  traverse  the  sea  of  the  world  with- 
out suffering  shipwreck  from  the  sudden  whirlwind  of  the 
passions ! 

Our  Christian  arrives  at  an  age  when  he  is  to  choose  the 
companion  of  his  life,  the  angel  to  whom  he  will  offer  his 
hand  for  the  journey  towards  the  eternal  country  at  the  head 
of  a  more  or  less  numerous  family.  Religion  presides  with 
maternal  solicitude,  over  this  act,  so  often  decisive  for  the 
temporal  and  eternal  life.  It  is  in  his  Heavenly  Father's  house 
that  it  is  celebrated,  far  from  those  passions  which  would  not 
fail  to  break  the  tie  which  they  themselves  had  formed. — This 
is  the  sacrament  of  marriage  destined  to  sanctify  the  legiti- 
mate union  of  man  and  woman ;  a  sacrament  truly  great  in 
Christ  and  in  the  Church,  as  St.  Paul  expresses  it.* 

Does  the  young  Christian,  instead  of  dividing  his  heart  by 

uniting  himself  to  a  wife,f  feel  moved  to  consecrate  it  entire 

to  the  Lord  and  to  the  spiritual  good  of  his  brethren ;  docs 

\e  hear  a  celestial  voice  which  says  to  him :  Leave  all  and 

follow  after  me ;  I  will  make  tJiec  a  jisher  of  men  ?  J     After 

*  Ephes.  v.  32.  f  I-  Cor-  vii-  33«  t  Matth.  iv.  10. 


WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS.  145 

long  conflicts  and  slow  and  measured  steps  towards  the  high 
places  of  the  sanctuary,  behold  him  ready  to  ascend  the  last 
steps  of  the  altar.  The  Pontiff  surrounded  with  his  priests, 
covers  with  his  hands  the  head  of  the  Levite  and  invokes  the 
treasures  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  sanctifier,  on  this  new  dis- 
penser of  the  Divine  mysteries,  and  by  Holy  unction  he  pre- 
pares his  hands  for  the  battles  of  our  Lord.  This  is  the 
Sacrament  of  Ordination,  which  confers  the  power  of  filling 
the  ecclesiastical  functions,  and  the  grace  to  exercise  them  in 
a  holy  manner. 

Finally,  whether  priest  or  simple  believer,  the  Christian 
approaches  the  end  of  his  career,  and  confined  to  the  bed  of 
pain,  he  hears  already  the  footsteps  of  the  inexorable  judge 
who  leaves  no  fault  without  its  punishment.  On  the  other 
hand,  Satan  seeing  the  end  of  the  combat  approaching,  sum- 
mon's  the  infernal  legions,  and  profiting  by  the  decay  of 
nature,  assails  him  furiously.  What  is  to  be  done  ?  Let  the 
priests  be  summoned,  said  the  Apostle  St.  James,  and  let  them 
pray  over  the  sick  man,  anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord ;  and  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick  man, 
and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up,  and  if  he  be  in  sins  they 
shall  be  forgiven  him.*  This  is  what  the  Church  does  in 
the  Sacrament  of  Extreme  Unction,  established  for  the  spi- 
ritual and  corporal  consolation  of  the  sick. 

This  last  purification  terminated,  the  Church  confidently 
says  to  her  child :  "  Go  forth,  Christian  soul  !  " 

Death  which  dissolves  the  ties  of  flesh  and  blood,  respects 
those  of  Catholic  charity  and  seems  even  to  bind  them  more 
closely.  The  Church  believes  and  teaches,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  all  time,  which  is  perfectly  conformable  to  Scrip- 
ture and  the  light  of  reason,  that  beyond  this  world,  between 
the  frightful  abyss  into  which  impenitent  crime  descends  for- 
ever, and  the  happy  abode  open  to  souls  without  stain,  there 
*  James  v.  14,  15. 

VOL.    II.  13 


146  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

exists  a  place  of  temporary  suffering,  where,  according  to  the 
words  of  Jesus  Christ,  Divine  justice  demands  even  to  the 
last  farthing  its  dues  for  faults  committed  in  the  journey 
through  life.* 

The  Church  also  believes  and  teaches,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  transfer  of  merits  and  penalties,  upon  which 
all  Christianity  rests,  that  the  prayers,  sacrifices  and  good 
works  of  the  living  may  propitiate  God  in  favor  of  the  vic- 
tims of  purgatory,  and  abridge  their  sufferings.  Thus  has 
this  tender  mother  given  a  large  space  to  the  dead  in  her 
Liturgy :  by  recalling  them  incessantly  to  the  remembrance 
of  her  children,  she  at  the  same  time  engages  these  last  to 
extend  their  charity  beyond  the  tomb,  and  keep  themselves 
from  the  least  taint  of  sin. 

The  only  departed  ones  for  whom  the  Catholic  does  not 
pray,  but  whose  powerful  intercession,  on  the  contrary  he 
invokes,  are  those  heroic  souls  whom  the  voice  of  the  people, 
confirmed  by  the  miraculous  voice  of  heaven  has  determined 
the  Church,  after  rigid  formalities,  to  propose  to  the  venera- 
tion, invocation,  and  holy  emulation  of  her  children. 

This  magnificent  system  of  restoration,  of  which  I  have 
given  only  a  very  incomplete  sketch,  Protestantism  has  dis- 
owned and  almost  entirely  destroyed.  Her  sacrilegious  attacks 
are  principally  directed  against  the  adorable  Eucharist,  the 
Sacrament  of  Penance,  Ordination  and  the  Worship  of  the 
Saints.  Let  us  vindicate  these  admirable  institutions  from 
the  brutalities  of  ignorance.  But  first  we  must  say  a  few 
words  concerning  the  primitive  theories  of  Protestantism 
concerning  sin,  justification  and  the  sacraments. 

*  Matth.  v.  25. 


THE    SACRAMENTS.  147 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

THEORY    OF    THE     FIRST    REFORMERS    CONCERNING    SIN. JUS- 
TIFICATION.  GOOD    WORKS. THE    SACRAMENTS. 

ORIGINAL  sin,  which  the  Catholic  Church  attributes  to  the 
voluntary  weakness  of  man  and  the  artifice  of  the  seducer, 
Luther,  Zwingle  and  Calvin  had  the  temerity  to  attribute  to 
the  will  of  the  thrice  Holy  God. 

Frequently  in  his  book  on  Free  Will  and  in  many  other 
productions,  the  evangelist  of  Wittemberg  declaims  against 
moral  liberty  as  a  human  invention  cherishing  self-love ;  and 
he  attempts  to  establish  Christian  humility  upon  that  princi- 
ple of  fatalism,  that  God  "by  an  immutable,  eternal  and 
infallible  will  regulates,  plans  and  does  all  things,"  that,  pas- 
sive instruments  of  this  sovereign  will,  "  all  that  we  do,  it  is 
not  freely,  but  by  pure  necessity  that  we  do  it."* 

The  mild  and  gentle  Melancthon  at  first  very  warmly  sus- 
tained this  oracle  of  the  fiery  apostle,  and  inveighed  against 
the  Catholic  theologians  whom  he  accused  of  having  borrowed 
from  philosophy  and  imported  into  Christianity  the  impious 
doctrine  of  liberty,  a  doctrine  absolutely  opposed  to  Scripture. 
It  is  also,  to  the  philosophy  of  Plato,  according  to  him  that 
we  are  indebted  for  the  equally  pernicious  word,  reason.^ 

Zwingle,  in  his  brutal  book  On  Providence,  repeats  at 
every  page  that  God  leads  and  forces  man  into  evil ;  that  he 
makes  use  of  the  creature  to  produce  injustice,  and  that 
jet  he  does  not  sin ;  for  the  law  which  makes  an  act  sinful 
does  not  exist  for  God,  and  moreover  he  always  acts  from 
right  and  supremely  holy  intentions.  The  creature,  on  the 
contrary,  although  acting  involuntarily  under  the  Divine 

*  De  Servo  arbit.  opp.  ed.  Jen.  vol.  iii.  p.  170,  177. 
t  Loc.  Theol.  ed  Aug.  1821.  p.  10. 


148     THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 

guidance  sins  because  he  violates  the  law  and  acts  from 
damnable  motives.* 

As  to  Calvin,  it  is  well  known,  that  as  a  consequence  of 
his  favorite  dogma  of  absolute  predestination,  by  which 
God  from  all  eternity  has  irrevocably  devoted  some  to  good- 
ness and  eternal  happiness,  and  others  to  evil  and  eternal 
misery,  has  filled  his  Christian  Institutes  with  such  beautiful 
assertions  as  the  following,  that,  for  reasons  incomprehensi- 
ble to  our  ignorance,  God  irresistibly  impels  man  to  violate  his 
laws,  that  his  inspirations  turn  to  evil  the  heart  of  the  wicked, 
that  man  falls,  because  God  has  thus  ordered  it. 

The  mellifluous  Theodore  of  Beza,  second  Pope  of  the 
Genevese  Church,  goes  farther  still,  and  wishing  to  explain 
absolute  predestination,  which  Calvin  had  taught  as  an  incon- 
trovertible but  profoundly  mysterious  dogma,  he  boldly  affirms 
that  God  has  created  the  largest  portion  of  men  only  with 
the  object  of  making  use  of  them  to  do  evil ;  and  then  gives 
as  a  reason  for  it,  that  God,  in  the  creation  of  the  universe, 
designed  to  manifest  his  justice  and  his  mercy;  but  how 
could  this  end  be  attained  with  creatures  who  remaining 
innocent,  would  need  no  pardon,  nor  merit  any  punishment ! 
God  then  ordains  that  they  should  sin  ;  he  saves  some,  and 
here  his  compassion  is  seen  ;  he  condemns  others,  and  behold 
his  justice.  The  end  that  God  proposes  to  himself  is  evi- 
dently just  and  holy ;  consequently  the  means  must  be  the 
same.f 

According  to  such  a  system  what  is  the  action  of  justifica- 
tion and  spiritual  regeneration  except  a  mechanical  movement 
of  man  under  the  irresistible  influence  of  God?  and  what 
must  be  the  effect  of  this  movement  of  conversion  ?  is  it  as 
has  hitherto  been  believed  casting  off  the  degradation  of  sin, 

*  De  Providentia,  opp.vol.  i.  p. 355.  See  Moehler,Si/mZic/wm  vol.  i.  ch.i. 
t  Abaters,  Calumn  Heshus,  Adv.  Calvin.    Moehler,  Symbolism  vol. 
i.  p.  35. 


THE    SACRAMENTS.  149 

freeing  oneself  from  the  tyranny  of  passion,  and  the  corrupt 
love  of  creatures,  and  following  in  the  footsteps  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  in  the  way  of  his  commandments  ?  Not  so  ;  that 
would  have  been,  according  to  the  Reformers,  to  make  man 
the  author  of  his  justice,  and  bring  to  naught  the  merits  of 
Jesus  Christ,  by  the  power  of  which  alone  we  are  justified. 
The  justice  which  renders  us  holy  and  agreeable  to  God  is 
not  in  us,  but  out  of  us ;  it  is  the  justice  of  Jesus  Christ 
which  is  imputed  to  us,  and  which,  leaving  the  soul  still  sul- 
lied, covers  it  as  with  a  mantle.  God  closes  his  eyes  upon 
our  inward  condition,  that  vile  receptacle  where  all  the  vices 
rage  to  rest  them  with  complacency  upon  his  Son,  who 
extends  the  veil  of  his  merits  over  this  frightful  sink  of 
corruption. 

But  how  can  the  sinner  shelter  himself  under  this  Divine 
mantle  ?  By  faith,  and  faith  alone,  answer  the  Reformers. 
It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  this  justifying  faith  is  not 
what  is  commonly  understood  by  faith,  belief  in  revealed 
truths ;  but  it  is  the  certain  faith  that  we  are  just  and  holy. 
"  The  sinner,"  says  Luther,  "  must  believe  in  his  justifica- 
tion with  the  same  faith  with  which  he  believes  that  Jesus 
Christ  came  into  the  world  .  .  .  Cursed  be  he  who  does  no. 
place  himself  among  the  number  of  the  saints !  Believe,  and 
henceforth  you  are  as  holy  as  St.  Peter."* 

But,  what  become  of  good  works,  the  practice  of  virtue, 
and  the  observance  of  the  divine  commandments,  the  only 
way,  according  to  Jesus  Christ,  which  leads  to  life  ?f  These 
are  troublesome  superfluities,  of  which  Christian  liberty  must 
rid  us.  Rather,  according  to  Luther,  they  are  invincible  ob- 
stacles to  salvation,  if  one  places  the  least  reliance  upon 
them.  "  Faith  alone,"  said  he,  "  is  necessary  for  our  justifi- 
cation :  nothing  else  is  commanded  or  forbidden.  Do  not  say 
that  God  will  punish  sin.  The  law,  in  truth,  says  so ;  but 
*  Opp.  vol.  i.  prop.  15,  IS.  f  Matth.  xix.  17. 

13* 


150  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

what  have  I  to  do  with  the  law  ?  I  am  free.  .  .  .  There  is 
only  one  unpardonable  sin,  unbelief.  .  .  .  The  way  to  heaven 
is  narrow,"  adds  the  sacrilegious  jester ;  "  if  you  wish  to  pass 
through  it,  throw  away  your  good  works."  * 

"  Those  pious  souls,"  he  says  farther,  "  who  do  good  to 
gain  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  not  only  will  never  succeed,  but 
they  must  even  be  reckoned  among  the  impious ;  and  it  is 
more  important  to  guard  them  against  good  works  than 
against  sin."  f 

"  Be  a  sinner,  and  sin  boldly,"  he  writes  to  a  friend,  from 
the  Patmos  of  Wartburg ;  "  but,  believe  yet  more  boldly, 
and  rejoice  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  conqueror  of  sin,  of  death, 
and  the  world.  We  must  sin  so  long  as  we  are  here  below. 
This  life  is  not  the  abode  of  justice.  It  is  sufficient  that,  by 
the  riches  of  the  glory  of  God,  we  know  the  Lamb  that  takes 
away  the  sin  of  the  world.  Hence,  sin  cannot  separate  us 
from  Jesus  Christ,  even  if,  in  one  day,  we  should  commit  a 
hundred  thousand  murders,  and  a  hundred  thousand  adul- 
teries." J 

To  the  certainty  of  justification  by  faith,  Calvin  added  the 
certainty  of  salvation  in  the  justified  man  ;  so  that  every  true 
Christian  must  believe,  with  an  unwavering  faith,  that  he  could 
never  again  lose,  even  by  the  greatest  crimes,  the  friendship 
of  God,  and  his  right  to  the  celestial  inheritance.  The  synod 
of  Dort  professed  solemnly  this  doctrine,  so  favorable  for 
criminals,  and  sustained  it  by  the  spiritual  thunders  of  excom- 
munication, in  the  age  of  Bossuet,  Fenelon,  Grotius,  and 
Leibnitz.§ 

It  is  necessary  to  have  before  our  eyes  the  incontrovertible 
testimony  of  history,  and  the  works  of  the  leading  reformers, 

*  Galat.  ch.  ii.  De  Captiv.  Babyl.,  chap,  de  -Bapt.  Serin,  de  Nov.  Test. 

t  Opp.  Wittemb.,  vol.  vi.  p.  1GO. 

t  Ep.  of  Martin  Luther,  &c.     Symbolism,  vol.  i.  p.  165. 

§  See  Histoire  de  Variations. 


THE    SACRAMENTS.  151 

edited  by  Protestant  hands,  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  such 
horrors.  We  can  easily  perceive  that  Luther,  Calvin,  and, 
above  all,  their  disciples,  must  have  been  obliged  afterward 
to  veil  such  baseness,  and  revive  the  obligation,  at  first  so 
brutally  denied,  of  the  moral  law.  But  what  power  had  such 
feeble  palliatives  against  the  fundamental  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith  alone !  And  fatalism,  introduced  by  the  ex- 
tinction  of  free  will  and  absolute  predestination,  would  be 
ready  to  lend  a  strong  hand  to  the  passions,  and  justify  the 
greatest  excesses. 

Do  we  not  still  see  the  new  Methodistic  Calvinism  move 
heaven  and  earth  to  bring  these  horrible  doctrines  into  re- 
pute ?  The  Methodist  pulpits  of  England  and  the  United 
States  resounded,  not  long  since,  with  these  oracles  of  the 
preacher  Hill :  "  If  I  should  sin  more  grievously  than  Manas- 
seh,  I  should  be  still  a  child  of  grace ;  for  God  always  regards 
me  as  Jesus  Christ.  Art  thou  plunged,  my  soul,  in  crime  ? 
Art  thou  red  with  homicidal  blood  ?  It-  matters  not.  Thou 
art  ah1  beauty,  my  lover,  my  faithful  spouse ;  thou  art  without 
stain.  I  am  not  among  those  who  say :  Let  us  sin,  that  grace 
may  abound;  but  it  is  no  less  certain,  on  that  account,  that 
adultery,  incest,  and  murder,  will  render  me  more  holy  on  the 
earth,  and  happier  in  heaven."  * 

In  a  word,  Geneva  shows  us  the  ministers  of  her  petrified 
Church  always  dabbling  in  the  infected  mire  of  Calvin,  and 
exhuming  from  it  this  vile  maxim,  that  Christ,  by  attaching 
himself  to  the  cross,  has  conquered  liberty  of  mind,  heart, 
and  body.f 

It  may  be  easily  imagined,  that  such  doctrines  took  from 
the  sacraments  their  efficacy  and  importance.  What  advan- 

*  Moehler,  Symbolism,  book  ii.,  ch.  iii.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  299. 

t  This  is  the  favorite  dogma  of  Dr.  Malan.  (See  his  Letire  (Tun 
Protestant  a  un  Cntholique  de  Vtrscix.  Les  Jldieux  u  Rome,  de 
1'Apostat  Bruitte.) 


152          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

tage  from  these  divine  channels,  destined  to  conduct  into 
the  soul  the  grace  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  if  this  soul 
is  condemned  to  remain  impure,  and  without  activity  in  the 
cause  of  goodness  ?  Consequently,  the  Reformers,  after  manj 
changes,  reduced  the  sacraments  to  two — baptism,  a  faint 
emblem  of  justification  by  faith,  an  equivocal  sign  of  the 
divine  covenant;  and  the  supper,  in  which  Luther  maintained 
the  reality  of  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  opposition  to 
Zwingle  and  Calvin,  who  only  recognised  in  it  a  type  or  figure 
But  let  us  turn  our  eyes  from  the  sad  dreams  of  these 
apostles  of  falsehood,  and  fix  them  upon  the  ineffable  inven- 
tions of  divine  love,*  which  the  Church  offers  us. 


CHAPTER    XXXVIII. 

THE  EUCHARIST,  REAL  PRESENCE  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. UNIVER- 
SAL INFLUENCE  OF  THIS  DOCTRINE. 

THE  Immanuel,  the  God  with  vs,  the  thought  of  whom 
made  Isaiah  tremble  eight  hundred  years  before  the  event, 
and  inspired  him  with  accents  so  tender  and  so  sublime  ;f 
the  truly  hidden  God,  whom  the  prophetic  spirit  showed  him 
veiling  the  rays  of  his  infinite  Majesty,  and  the  brilliancy  of 
his  glorious  humanity,  to  reach  more  surely  the  weak  and 
timid  heart  of  man  ;J  that  divine  teacher,  who  should  never  flee 
away  from  the  midst  of  his  people,^  the  Catholic  Church  be- 
holds him  with  ever  new  transports  of  admiration,  gratitude, 
and  love,  dwelling  in  the  midst  of  us  full  of  grace  and  truth.  [| 

*  Isai.  chap.  xii.  4.  f  Isai.  chap,  vii.,  xi.,  xii. 

t  Vere  tu  ea  Deus  absconditus,  Deus  Israel  salvator.  (Ibid  xlv.  15.) 
§  Et  non  faciet  avolare  a  te  ultra  dectorem  tuum,  (Isai.  xxx.  20.) 
||  John  i.  15. 


THE    EUCHARIST.  153 


Proud  sectarians,  whose  errors  she  has  confounded,  tyrants 
who  have  shed  her  blood  in  torrents,  prophets  of  death,  who 
so  many  times  have  announced  her  obsequies,  be  not  sur- 
prised that  she  has  so  easily  triumphed  over  your  sophisms, 
wearied  your  executioners,  and  given  the  lie  to  your  predic- 
tions; she  has  with  her  a  God  infinite  in  wisdom,  infinite  in 
power,  infinite  in  duration. 

But  should  not  the  language  of  controversy,  always  bitter, 
however  fraternal  it  may  be,  expire  on  our  lips  before  the 
altars  of  the  Lamb ! 

You  who,  without  bitterness  against  Catholicism,  have  even 
words  of  esteem  and  respect  for  it;  noble  and  elevated  souls, 
whose  mind  and  heart  have  resisted  the  malignant  influence 
of  errors  imbibed  with  the  milk  of  infancy ;  it  is  for  you  that 
these  pages  are  intended:  they  will  offer  you  the  explanation 
of  phenomena  which,  for  a  long  time,  have  attracted  your 
attention. 

Frequently,  on  visiting  our  ancient  cathedrals,-  you  are 
amazed  at  the  sight  of  the  varied  ornaments  which  convert 
these  gigantic  masses  into  a  world  of  artistic  wonders.  You 
admire  the  infinite  patience  of  the  chisel  which  has  given  life 
to  the  whole  interior,  from  the  mosaic  pavement  to  the  aerial 
arches  springing  with  such  boldness  from  their  delicate 
mouldings,  and  to  the  exterior,  from  the  mossy  trunks  of  a 
forest  of  columns,  to  the  grotesque  ornaments  of  the  roof. 
This  profusion  of  the  riches  of  art  will  be  found  more  or  less 
in  almost  all  our  churches. 

Often,  when  present  at  our  religious  solemnities,  you  have 
been  witnesses  of  the  magic  power  of  a  worship  which  groups 
around  its  altars  numerous  populations,  while  the  frequency 
and  monotony  of  the  spectacle  never  create  disgust.  The 
hoty  gravity  of  our  ceremonies,  the  divine  beauty  of  our 
chants,  have  spoken  to  your  hearts,  but  have  failed  to  explain 
to  you  the  general  serenity  of  countenance,  and  that  religious 


154  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

expression  of  physiognomy,  which  led  you  to  say :  "  There 
are  souls  in  these  bodies,  and  God  is  in  these  souls. 

Perhaps  you  have  sometimes  entered  our  churches  to  rest 
your  soul,  wearied  with  the  tumult  of  the  world,  or  wounded 
in  its  affections,  and  did  you  not  then  experience,  like  Rous- 
seau, their  secret  power  to  lead  to  prayer,  to  sweet  and  con- 
soling thoughts,  to  everything  which  refreshes  and  re-animates 
the  heart,  and  disposes  it  to  suffer  patiently  the  disappoint- 
ments of  life? 

You  have  often  endeavored,  perhaps,  to  explain  to  3'our- 
self  that  spirit  of  sacrifice,  that  self-forgetfulness,  that  self- 
devotion,  so  common  in  Catholicism,  and  so  entirely  unknown 
elsewhere;  and  you  enumerated,  with  admiration,  the  multi- 
tudes of  virgins  who  devote  themselves  to  the  sick,  to  the 
education  of  poor  children,  our  Brothers  of  the  schools,  the 
hospitallers  of  St.  Bernard,  who  have,  for  charit}',  lived  eight 
hundred  years  above  the  habitable  world.  You  recalled  the 
names  of  our  Trappists,  our  children  of  St.  Bruno,  of  St. 
Francis,  of  Assisiurn,  who  brought  back  to  us  the  angels  of 
the  Thebais.  You  remembered  our  missionaries  making 
themselves  savages  with  the  savage,  and  pressing  to  the  scaf- 
fold by  the  way  of  suffering  and  privations;  and  then  you 
cited  our  priests,  for  the  most  part  so  separated  from  the  joys 
of  life,  so  present  in  all  its  miseries,  so  prodigal  of  life  when 
death  is  knocking  at  every  door. 

Afterwards,  comparing  the  two  worships,  you  have  said 
to  yourself:  Why  are  our  temples  so  different  from  their 
churches?  Why  does  all  that  is  seen  and  practised  in  them 
leave  the  heart  so  cold  ?  Why  are  our  ministers  so  bold, 
when  contempt  and  insult  are  to  be  cast  on  Catholic  priests, 
and  so  reserved  and  timid  when  they  are  called  upon  to  sit, 
like  them,  by  the  pillow  of  the  dying,  and  converse  with  the 
infected  and  the  irascible?  Do  we  not  adore  the  same  God? 
Have  we  not  the  same  Gospel?  Yes,  we,  in  truth,  adore 


THE    EUCHARIST.  155 


the  same  God;  but  your  fathers,  deceived  by  wretched  men, 
have  chosen  that  this  God,  who  was  made  man,  and  whose 
delights  were  to  be  with  men*  should  return  to  heaven  after 
thirty-three  years  abode  upon  the  earth,  whilst  the  Catholic 
Church  adores  him  always  dwelling  upon  her  altars,  and 
communicating  to  the  sheep  of  his  flock  the  treasures  of  his 
divinity  indissolubly  united  to  his  flesh  and  his  blood. 

Dear  separated  brethren,  whom  an  invisible  hand  is  gra- 
dually guiding  back  to  the  fold,  approach  the  sacred  taber- 
nacles, and  contemplate  him  whom,  we  are  assured,  }'ou  will 
one  day  receive  with  us.  Let  the  poor  symbols  which  conceal 
him,  far  from  scandalizing  you,  remind  you  of  the  crib  where 
he  was  born,  of  the  wretched  swaddling-clothes  in  which  he  was 
presented  to  kings  and  shepherds.  He  is  always  a  humiliated 
God  who  takes  his  place  at  the  lowest  extremity  of  existence  of 
in  order  to  raise  us  to  the  sublime  heights  of  the  divine  life. 

Here,  assuredly,  is  the  central  fire,  which  animates  and 
quickens  the  Catholic  world,  and  increases  there  in  such 
abundance,  in  the  midst  of  human  coldness,  those  harvests  of 
virtues  which  rejoice  the  earth,  and  fill  the  store-houses  of  the 
heavenly  husbandman.j-  This  is  the  undying  centre  of  heat 
at  which  the  genius  of  the  artist  is  enkindled,  from  which  the 
heart  of  the  people,  the  religious,  and  the  priest,  borrows  a 
constantly  renewing  ardor  for  great  enterprises  and  sublime 
devotion. 

What  was  it  that  interested,  for  so  many  years,  numerous 
populations  in  the  construction  of  those  immense  edifices, 
whose  support  alarms  our  most  wealthy  governments?  What 
animated  the  hundred  thousand  indefatigable  workmen  who 
labored  on  the  cathedral  of  Strasburg,  and  found  the  days 
too  short  ?  |  It  was  this  simple  thought.  Can  we  do  too 

*  Prov.  viii.  31.  t  John  xv.  1. 

J  See  Esi>ais  Historiques,  et  Topographiqucs,  sur  la  Cathedrale  de 
Strasbourg,  by  M.  Grandidier. 


15G          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

much  for  Him  who  has  done  so  much  for  us?  and  can  the 
edifice  in  which  he  condescends  daily  to  renew  the  prodigies 
of  his  mercy,  ever  be  worthy  of  his  love  and  our  gratitude  ? 

The  Church,  for  the  Catholic,  is  not  only  the  place  for  re- 
ligious assemblies ;  it  is,  indeed,  the  tabernacle  of  God  among 
men* — the  heaven  on  earth,  the  point  of  contact,  the  common 
meeting  place  of  angels,  saints,  and  men,  around  their  divine 
Head  and  the  august  Trinity. 

Hence,  with  what  indescribable  ardor  and  patience  the  re- 
ligious artist  of  the  middle  ages  devoted  himself  to  the  deco- 
ration of  the  sanctuary,  two  steps  from  the  altar,  under  the 
eye  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  who  counts  the  drops  of  sweat 
as  they  fell  from  his  brow,  and  records  in  the  book  of  life 
every  stroke  of  the  chisel !  Be  no  longer  surprised  to  see  the 
marble  become  pliant  in  his  hands,  and  lend  itself,  with  the 
flexibility  of  metal  and  the  suppleness  of  silk,  to  the  brilliant 
conceptions  of  his  imagination,  shaping  itself  into  leaves  and 
flowers,  into  lace  and  embroidery,  with  grace  and  freshness, 
and  charming  delicacy. 

You  have,  also,  before  your  eyes  the  divine  Enchanter, 
who,  at  the  first  stroke  of  the  bell,  brings  joyfully  crowding 
around  the  altar  our  still  faithful  population. 

You  will  not  deny  that  the  God  whom  love  confines  within 
our  tabernacles  must  be  benevolent,  and  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
the  faithful !  He  is  not  the  abstract,  incomprehensible  God 
of  philosophy.  He  is  not  God  individualising  himself  in 
each  one  by  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  a  Being  as  manifold, 
as  various,  as  grotesque  as  the  brains  where  he  is  moulded. 
He  is  not  even  the  historical  God-Man,  seated  upon  the  invi- 
sible throne  of  the  heavens,  and  whom  the  Gospel  describes 
as  suffering  for  us  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  a  vast  dis- 
tance for  our  mind  and  heart  so  forgetful  of  the  past,  so  little 
moved  by  what  they  cannot  touch !  This  God  is  God  with 

*  Ponam  tabernaculum  meum  in  medio  vestri.  (Lcvit.  xxvi.  11.) 


THE    EUCHARIST.  157 

us,  the  God  of  all  and  each,  of  great  and  small,  of  cities  and 
hamlets.  He  dwells  equally  in  the  sumptuous  temples  which 
kings  rear  for  him,  the  rustic  church  which  the  peasant  pre- 
pares for  him,  or  the  tent  of  green  branches  in  which  the 
savage  adores  him.  A  Father  of  ineffable  tenderness  he  is 
everywhere,  where  he  sees  two  or  three  of  his  children  as- 
sembled in  his  name.* 

He  is  God — the  shepherd  whom  David  sang  in  an  idyl  of 
divine  beauty,  leading  his  sheep  on  the  patlis  of  justice,  along 
tranquil  waters,  animating  them  by  his  presence,  encouraging 
them  by  the  power  of  his  crook  ;  in  the  dangerous  defiles,  pre- 
paring them  a  table,  a  delicious  nourishment,  in  the  desert  of 
life  ;  anointing  their  heads  with  precious  oil,  and  putting  no 
limits  to  his  loving  solicitude  to  bring  them  to  the  fold,  where 
an  eternity  of  repose  awaits  tliem.\ 

If  in  his  Eucharistic  life  as  in  the  days  of  his  mortal  life, 
Jesus  Christ  is  too  much  neglected  and  forgotten  by  the 
happy  in  this  world,  how  is  it  he,  on  the  other  hand,  compre- 
hended and  loved  by  the  simple  and  religious  visiter,  who  has 
seen  him  visit  and  console  on  his  death-bed  his  grandparents 
and  his  parents,  whom  he  sees  with  compassion  descending 
into  the  heart  of  his  children  to  strengthen  their  youthful 
virtue,  and  who  so  often  has  himself  calmed  his  soul,  at  the 
sacred  banquet!  See  him  anticipating  the  dawn  in  the  field 
to  resume  the  hard-labor  which  will  end  only  with  the  day : 
perhaps  he  turns  his  eye  with  envy  towards  the  baronial 
mansion  where  the  repose  of  the  day  succeeds  the  sleep  of  the 
niaht.  but  the  sound  of  the  matin  bell  summons  him  to  salute 

O        * 

the  mother  of  God,  and  repeat  these  words :   The  word  was 

*  Ubi  enim  sunt  duo  vel  tres  congregati  in  nomine  meo,  ibi  sum  in 
medio  eorum.  (Matth.  xviii.  20.) 

f  Dominus  regit  me,  et  nihil  mihi  derit,  &c.  (Ps.  xxii.)  This  de- 
licious picture,  and  a  multitude  of  others  that  are  found  in  the  prophets, 
are  a  sealed  book  for  sheep  deprived  of  the  real  presence  of  the  shepherd 

VOL.    II.  14 


158  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


made  Jlesh  and  dwelt  among  us  !  The  thought  of  God  gain- 
ing a  support  for  thirty  years  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and 
watching  day  and  night  in  the  village  church,  changes  the 
currc-nt  of  his  ideas  and  increases  his  strength  tenfold.  The 
sun  7-ises,  and  the  power  of  its  rays  joined  to  the  burden  of 
toil  brings  down  the  thoughts  of  the  good  laborer  to  earth 
again.  The  bell  sounds  anew  and  announces  that  the  priest 
is  ascending  to  the  altar :  the  Christian  uncovers  his  head, 
crosses  himself  and  says :  Behold  the  innocent  Lamb  that 
was  slain  for  my  sins ;  and  I,  mean  sinner,  shall  I  refuse  to 
unite  my  sweat  to  his  blood! 

How  happy  in  the  midst  of  his  trials  is  the  Catholic  who 
is  nourished  by  faith!  Everything  recalls  to  him  the  infinite 
tenderness  of  God  who  has  made  himself  the  companion  of 
his  exile  and  his  fellow  citizen.  Every  day  he  sees  him  borne 
to  the  bedside  of  the  sick.  There  is  no  by-path,  no  house 
that  has  not  been  sanctified  by  his  presence.  The  whole 
parish  is  a  Holy  Land,  a  Palestine  where  the  Man-God  has 
dwelt  for  ages,  where  he  has  incessantly  preached  patience, 
resignation,  charity  and  the  pursuit  of  Heaven,  where  he  still 
brings  thousands  of  the  dead  to  life,  and  heals  all  manner  of 
diseases. 

It,  indeed,  belongs  to  Catholics  to  say :  There  is  not  and 
tfiere  never  has  been  any  nation  who  can  boast  of  having  Gods 
as  familiar  as  ours.*  And  let  it  not  be  imagined  that  this 
familiarity  ever  diminishes  respect  and  love.  It  is  for  man, 
in  the  depth  of  his  weakness  and  misery,  to  withdraw  himself 
from  a  too  penetrating  scrutiny,  if  he  would  escape  contempt. 
God  is  despised  only  by  those  who  are  ignorant  of  him  and 
flee  from  him.  Adored  and  loved  in  proportion  as  he  is 
known,  he  is  surrounded  by  a  reverence  and  love  without 
limits,  where  he  is  seen  without  a  cloud. 

*  Nee  est  alia natio  tarn  grandis,  qua?. habeat deos  appropinquantes  sibi, 
sicut  Deus  nostcr  adest  cunctis  obseorationibus  nostris.  (Deuter.  iv.  7.) 


THE    EUCHARIST.  159 


But  if  the  people  can  drink  joyfully  full  draughts  from  the 
fountains  of  life  which  the  love  of  the  Savior  everwhere 
opens,*  what  must  it  be  with  the  priest,  the  instrument  of 
such  prodigies!  will  he,  through  whose  hands  daily  flows  the 
blood  of  his  celestial  victim,  ever  find  that  he  can  do  enough 
for  souls  purchased  at  so  great  a  price !  If  he  retreats  before 
the  awful  solemnity  of  the  Divine  ministry,  will  he  not  believe 
himself  obliged  to  go  into  the  desert  to  pray  for  pastors  and 
people,  and  to  teach  both  to  raise  the  soul  by  prayer  and  to 
conquer  the  flesh  by  mortification  ? 

Among  so  many  sacrifices,  is  it  remarkable  that  many  leave 
the  altar  and  tear  themselves  from  us  to  go  and  exhaust  them- 
selves by  toil  and  privations  under  the  burning  sun  of  Africa 
or  India,  in  the  forests  of  America  or  in  the  midst  of  the 
Anthropophagi  of  Polynesia;  that  others  go  to  Tonquin, 
Cochin-China  and  Corea  to  fill  the  places  of  their  brethren 
who  have  been  strangled,  decapitated,  burned  before  a  slow 
fire,  or  who  have  fallen,  hewn  to  pieces  under  the  sword  of 
their  persecutors?  Intrepid  apostles,  we  justly  honor  you; 
but  it  is  just  also  that  you  should  despise  yourselves,  when 
measuring  your  steps  by  those  of  your  Divine  Master,  you 
see  him  traverse  the  awful  distance  from  the  eternal  throne 
to  the  manger,  coming  forth  from  the  work-shop  of  Nazareth 
to  ascend  Calvary,  and  only  quitting  the  tomb  to  imprison 
himself  in  our  tabernacles ! 

This  is  the  perpetual  devotion  which  inspires  and  exalts  all 
devotion,  and  protects  our  heroes  from  the  poison  of  pride 
by  convicting  them  all  of  weakness  and  cowardice.  It  is 
this  which  inspired  St.  Francis  Xavier.  when  expiring  on  the 
coast  of  Sancian,  after  unheard-of  labors  and  success. 
What  am  I,  alas!  my  Lord,  but  a  vile  and  useless  servant! 

*  Haurietis  aquas  in  gaudio  de  fontibus  Salvatoris.  (Isa.  xii.  3.)  The 
rest  of  the  chapter  is  a  still  more  visible  allusion  to  the  Eucharistic 
mystery. 


1GO  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    SXXIX. 

PERPETUITY    OF    FAITH    IN    THE    REAL    PRESENCE. INVEN- 
TORS   OF    THE    FIGURATIVE    PRESENCE. CONTRADICTION 

AND    DISHONESTY    OF   THE    SACRAMENTARIANS. 

IT  may  be  said,  "We  allow  that  the  real  presence  is  a 
touching  belief  and  has  wonderful  power  over  the  heart,  but 
can  the  mind  accept  it?"  How  can  a  just  mind  consent  to 
deprive  the  human  heart,  a  prey  to  so  many  sorrows  and  sub- 
ject to  so  many  frailties  of  so  divine  a  balm,  of  so  efficacious 
a  source  of  strength !  Is  not  the  well  authenticated  power 
of  the  remedy,  a  strong  proof,  to  every  judicious  mind  of  its 
divine  origin  ?  How  long  since,  and  from  whom  did  error 
receive  her  commission  to  benefit  man  and  lead  him  to  God ! 

I  readily  acknowledge  that  this  dogma,  considered  in  itself, 
is  strange,  inconceivable  and  even  incredible ;  but  what 
should  we  conclude  from  that?  That  it  is  not  of  human 
invention,  that  only  the  Divine  voice  could  announce  to  man 
a  thing  so  unimaginable,  and  make  it  accepted. — The  first  vi- 
sionary who  should  dream  of  such  an  extravagance  could  not 
have  found  a  second  to  adopt  it;  and  if  such  had  been  found, 
universal  opinion  would  have  given  him  and  his  fellow 
believers  the  first  rank  in  the  history  of  human  follies. 

Let  those  who  consider  this  doctrine  as  absurd  explain, 
then,  how  the  Christian  world  has  believed  it  for  sixteen  cen- 
turies, and  still  believes  it  with  very  few  exceptions.  Is  reason 
a  Calvinistic  creation  !  As  to  sense  and  genius,  our  old 
Christians  have  established  their  claims  to  them,  as  well  as 
the  Catholics  of  modern  times.  To  deny  them  reason  would 
be  to  want  it  oneself. 

If  this  doctrine  were  not  as  clearly  stated  in  the  Gospel, 
as  in  fact  it  is,  its  divine  origin  would  be  no  less  satisfactorily 


PERPETUITY   OP    FAITH.  161 

demonstrated  by  the  uniform  and  constant  faith  of  Christians 
of  all  ages,  from  those  who  had  the  happiness  to  hear  these 
words  uttered  by  the  mouth  of  the  Savior  on  the  evening  of 
his  death :  Receive  and  eat,  this  is  my  body,  dec.,  even  to  the 
Christians  of  the  sixteenth  century,  who,  not  without  sur- 
prise, heard  Carlstadt  and  Zwingle  translate  thus  the  words 
of  Christ ;  This  is  the  fgure  of  my  body.  This  belief,  the 
Oriental  Churches  who  have  been  separated  from  Catholicism 
since  the  fifth  and  the  ninth  century,  have  carefully  preserved 
till  our  day,  as  has  been  proved  to  the  sacramentarians  with 
a  force  of  erudition  which  has  reduced  them  to  silence.* 

If  the  peaceable  and  immemorial  possession  of  a  doctrine 
so  popular,  and  concerning  which  every  believer  must  neces- 
sarily have  a  fixed  and  established  faith,  was  disturbed  for  a 
moment,  in  the  eleventh  century,  at  only  one  point  of  the 
Church,  the  attempt  of  Berenger,  only  more  fully  confirmed 
the  universal  harmony,  and  the  teacher  in  the  schools  of  St. 
Martin  of  Tours,  hastened  to  abjure  an  opinion  whose  novelty 
provoked  the  anathemas  of  pastors  and  people.f 

As  to  those  miserable  journalists,  strangers  to  all  know- 
ledge of  men  and  history  who  dare  yet  to  assert  that  faith  in 
the  real  presence  was  imposed  on  the  Catholic  Church  by  a 
monk  of  Mount  Sinai  or  of  the  convent  of  Corbie,  between 
the  seventh  and  ninth  centuries,  or  even  by  a  religious  of  the 
thirteenth,  I  hold  them  as  irrefutable  as  those  ancient  geolo- 

*  It  is  sufficient  to  quote  the  great  work  De  la  PerpetuitS  de  /a 
foi  de  I'Eucharistie,  on  the  subject  of  which  Leibnitz  wrote.  "  Dis- 
tinguished learned  men  have  recently  demonstrated  that  all  the  churches 
of  the  world,  with  the  exception  of  those  that  are  called  reformed,  and 
others  which  by  their  innovations  have  gone  farther  than  the  reformed, 
at  the  present  day  admit  the  real  presence  of  the  body  of  Christ;  it 
has  been  proved,  I  repeat,  by  such  evidence,  that  the  fact  tnust  be 
acknowledged  as  established,  or  we  can  never  hope  to  prove  any  asser- 
tion with  regard  to  foreign  countries.  (Systeme  de  ThcoL,  art.  Euchar.) 

f  See  Bergier,  Dictionn.  Tkeol.  art.  Berengarians. 
14* 


1G2  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

gists  who  taught  that  the  universe  was  brought  forth  from  a 
crocodile's  egg. 

The  two  men  to  whom  it  was  given  to  tear  from  the  heart 
of  many  millions  of  Christians  this  ancient  and  touching  be- 
lief, were  Carlstadt  and  Zwingle ;  the  first  Archdeacon  of 
Wittemberg — a  barbarian,  without  talent,  without  faith,  des- 
titute even  of  common  sense,  living  in  intoxication  among 
pots  and  glasses,  as  Melancthon  has  said  ;*  the  other,  an  old 
curate  of  Glacis  and  Einssedlen,  from  which  he  was  banished 
on  account  of  misconduct,  f  They  were  the  first  to  applaud 
the  invectives  of  Luther  against  the  indulgences  of  the  Roman 
Pontiff;  the  first  also,  who,  using  the  very  plenary  indulgence 
accorded  by  the  Pope  of  Wittemberg  to  his  priests,  trans- 
formed their  maid-servants  into  wives. 

If  this  wonderful  effect  of  the  love  of  Jesus  Christ  must  be 
denied,  what  more  natural  than  that  it  should  be  by  such 
men !  The  unhappy  man  who  dares  to  approach  the  altar 
with  impure  heart  and  hands,  is  peculiarly  interested  to  find 
on  the  altar  only  an  insignificant  image  of  what  we  adore 
there. 

However  this  may  be,  the  commentary  which  Zwingle 
gave  of  the  words  of  the  Eucharistic  institution,  was  a  little 
less  absurd  than  the  burlesque  interpretation  of  Carlstadt, 
which  threw  Luther  into  fits  of  laughter,  and  drew  down  on 
its  author  a  deluge  of  burning  sarcasm.  J 

*  See  Audin,  Vie  de  Calvin,  vol.  i.  ch.  xxii. 

t  Ib. — De  Haller,  Histoire  de  la  Reforme  Protestante  dans  ?e 
Suisse  occidental,  ch.  iii. 

J  See  Audin,  as  above  quoted.  Carlstadt  thus  explained  the  sup- 
per :  Jesus  Christ,  after  saying  to  his  Apostles,  when  giving  them  bread : 
Take  and  eat,  pointed  to  himself,  saying :  This  is  my  body  ;  then  pass- 
ing the  cup  of  wine,  inviting  them  to  drink,  he  probably  showed  them 
his  arteries  and  veins,  saying:  This  is  my  blood,  &c. ! ! !  Here  is 
a  charming  application  of  the  principle  of  individual  interpretation. 


PERPETUITY    OF    FAITH.  163 

Discomfited  by  Luther,  who  armed  himself  with  the  express 
words  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  also  with  universal  tradition,  which 
he  considered  decisive,  when  it  was  favorable  to  himself, 
Carlstadt  and  Zwingle  found  an  aid  in  Calvin,  who  endea- 
vored at  first  to  reconcile,  by  his  hybrid  doctrines,  Lutheraji 
realism  with  Zwinglian  symbolism,*  and  finally  decided  in 
favor  of  the  latter. 

Luther,  who  so  bravely  defended  the  reality  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  was,  however,  in 
despair  at  finding  himself  agreeing  on  this  point  with  those 
Papists,  whose  name  alone  whitened  his  lips  with  foam.  He 
then  denied  transubstantiation,  and  maintained  that  the  bread 
and  the  wine  remained  on  the  altar  after  the  consecration, 
eonjointly  with  the  body  and  blood.  For  these  words :  this 
is  my  body,  the  pure  and  simple  acceptation  of  which  he 
preached  so  strongly  to  the  Zwinglians ;  he,  in  fact,  substi- 
tuted the  following :  With  this,  or  under  this,  or  in  this  is  my 
body. 

It  belonged  to  the  sixteenth  century  to  decide  between  these 
three  masters :  the  Son  of  God  affirming,  of  the  Eucharistic 
bread,  that  it  is  his  body;  Luther  pronouncing  that  it  contains 
his  body ;  and  again,  Carlstadt,  Zwingle,  and  Calvin,  teaching 
that  it  is  only  the  image,  the  type  of  the  body.\  Is  it  aston- 

It  is  however  to  this  profound  commentator  that  the  Sacramentarians, 
that  is  to  say,  three-quarters  of  the  Protestants,  are  indebted  for  the 
dogma  of  the  figurative  presence. 

*  See  Bossuet,  Histoire  des  Variations,  liv.  ix. 

t  A  painter  of  that  period  had  the  happy  idea  of  uniting  the  three 
suppers  on  the  same  canvass.  In  the  centre  the  divine  Savior  was 
represented  distributing  the  sacred  bread  to  the  Apostles,  and  uttering 
these  words :  This  is  my  body  ;  on  the  right,  a  little  lower,  Luther 
administering  the  supper  to  his  followers,  saying  :  This  contains  my 
body  ;  on  the  left  Calvin,  in  the  same  act,  murmuring :  This  is  the 
type  of  my  body.  In  the  back  ground  the  artist  wrote  in  large  letters : 
Which  of  the  three  speaks  the  truth  1  This  picture  caused  many  con- 


164  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ishing,  that,  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  millions  of  Christians, 
then  existing,  more  than  two  hundred  millions  have  decided 
to  hold  to  the  words  of  Christ,  as  the  Christian  world  had 
hitherto  understood  them ! 

I  have  no  intention  to  bring  forward  here  the  passages  of 
Scripture  and  the  monuments  of  tradition  which  establish  the 
real  presence  as  an  eminently  scriptural  and  Christian  doc- 
trine. It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  add  anything  to  the 
very  complete  demonstrations  of  our  theologians  and  contro- 
versialists ;  *  and  to  collect  them,  a  volume  would  be  needed. 
I  shall  limit  myself  to  one  reflection  on  the  singular  conduct 
of  the  theologians  of  the  Reformation. 

For  three  entire  centuries  they  enforce  upon  us  the  neces- 
sity of  referring,  in  matters  of  faith,  not  to  old  traditions,  but 
to  Scripture,  to  the  pure  word  of  Christ.  They  are  continu- 
ally repeating  to  us,  as  a  Jewish  Rabbi  would  do  these  words 
of  Moses :  You  shall  not  add,  nor  take  away  from  the  word 
(hat  I  speak  to  you.\ 

Catholics  take  them  literally.  It  is  Christ  himself,  who, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  miraculous  multiplication  of  the  loaves, 
speaks  of  the  far  more  miraculous  food  that  he  is  preparing 
for  his  disciples.  The  people  whom  he  has  just  exhorted  to 
believe  in  him  as  in  the  ambassador  of  God,  judge  that  the 

versions.  The  truth,  indeed,  is  never  more  eloquent  than  when  re- 
duced to  its  simplest  expression.  A  few  years  later  the  artist  would 
have  been  able  to  crowd  his  canvass  with  a  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
other  personages ;  for  in  the  time  of  Bellarmine,  two  hundred  different 
interpretations  of  the  words  of  the  supper  could  be  enumerated  among 
Protestants. 

*  Among  the  moderns  I  shall  mention  here  only  those  of  our  con- 
trovertialists  who  appear  to  me  to  have  included  the  most  in  the  fewest 
pages.  Ltttres  du  P.  Scheffmacher,  Gth  and  7th.  Discussion  amicale, 
by  Mgr.  le  Pappe  de  Trevern,  Lettres  6th,  7th,  Sth,  9th,  10th.  Lectures 
on  the  Church,  by  Dr.  Wiseman,  14, 15,  16.  Guide  du  Catechumcne 
Vaudois,  by  Mgr.  Charvaz,  torn.  iii.  Entretiens,  4th,  5th,  6th,  7th. 

t  Deuter.  iv.  2. 


PERPETUITY    OF    FAITH. 


1G5 


miracle  which  they  have  just  witnessed,  and  which  was  per- 
formed for  their  benefit,  cannot  be  compared  to  the  prodigies 
by  which  Moses  subdued  the  Israelites  to  the  faith ;  and,  as 
it  were,  they  challenge  the  Savior:  What  dost  tliou  work 
which  approaches  what  our  fathers  have  seen,  who  did  eat 
manna  in  the  desert,  and  to  whom  Moses  gave  bread  from 
heaven.*  Jesus  denies  at  first  that  Moses  gave  them  the  true 
bread  from  heaven,  and,  after  having  affirmed,  at  length,  that 
he  is  the  true  bread  descended  from  heaven  to  give  life  unto 
man,  he  plainly  tells  them  that  this  heavenly  bread,  which  he 
will  give  to  eat,  is  his  flesh,  which  he  will  sacrifice  for  tlie 
life  of  the  world.^ 

This  is  not  intended  to  signify,  the  Calvinists  will  say, 
literally  the  eating  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  the  firm  belief  in  the 
virtue  of  the  sacrifice  of  his  flesh ;  it  is  this  which  gives  life  to 
the  soul. 

Now  the  people  of  Capharnaum,  understanding  these  words 
as  the  Catholics  understand  them,  as  signifying  the  real  eating 
of  the  flesh  of  Jesus  Christ,  were  shocked  by  such  an  asser- 
tion. Jesus,  far  from  removing  the  scandal  by  having  re- 
course to  the  Calvinistic  commentary,  only  increased  it  by 
these  words :  Amen,  amen,  I  say  unto  you :  Except  you  eat. 
thcjiesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood,  you  shall  not 

*  John  vi.  29  et  seq. 

t  John  vi.  52.  I  would  uige  the  reader  to  follow  attentively  the 
dialogue  of  Jesus  Christ  with  the  people  of  Capharnaum.  He  will  see 
that  Christ,  accepting,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  the  challenge  of  the  lat- 
ter, pledges  himself  to  give  to  all  those  who  shall  believe  in  him,  a 
food  far  more  miraculous  than  that  which  Moses  had  given  to  the  Israel- 
ites in  the  desert.  Now  how  could  he  have  accomplished  his  promise 
by  the  institution  of  the  Calvinistic  supper?  Which  would  exhibit 
the  most  power  and  testify  the  most  love  for  his  people,  Christ  inviting 
his  disciples  to  eat  a  bit  of  bread,  and  drink  a  drop  of  wine  in  memory 
of  him,  or  Moses  causing  the  food  of  two  millions  of  men  to  rain 
from  heaven  for  forty  years. 


1G6  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

have  life  in  you.  He  lhat  catcih  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my 
blood,  haih  everlasting  life ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the 
last  day.  For  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed:  and  my  blood  is 
drink  indeed;*  and  the  divine  Master,  who  sees  this  innu- 
merable people,  and  even  his  disciples,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Apostles,  indignantly  withdrawing  from  him,  no  less  than 
three  times  repeats  these  words,  which  they  were  unable  to 
bear.f 

Let  us  now  listen  to  the  objection  of  the  Calvinists.  Some 
will  say  to  us :  This  had  no  connection  with  the  supper,  and 
must  be  understood  of  faith  in  Christ.  If  you  do  not  eat  the 
flesh,  if  you  do  not  drink  my  blood,  should  be  translated:  If 
you  do  not  believe  in  the  sacrijir.e  on  the  cross  of  iliejlesh  and 
blood,  &c.,  you  will  not  have  life.  My  jlesh  is  meat  indeed, 
translate  :  My  jlesh  is  metaphorically  meat.  Others  will  tell 
you :  These  words  may  relate  to  the  Eucharistic  institution, 
but  then  translate  thus:  If  you  do  not  eat  the  type  of  the  Jlesh, 
if  you  do  not  drink  the  type  of  the  blood,  &c. 

Let  us  transport  ourselves  to  the  supper-room.  Jesus 
Christ  celebrated  the  last  passover  with  his  Apostles,  and  he 
distributed  to  them  the  Eucharistic  species,  saying :  This  is 
my  body,  Ihis  is  my  blood.  And  the  reformed  theologians, 
reforming  the  words  of  Christ,  force  him  to  say :  This  repre- 
sents my  body,  this  represents  my  blood. 

St.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Christians  of  Corinth,  said  to  them : 
The  chalice  of  benediction,  which  ice  bless,  is  it  not  the 
communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  the  bread  ichich  ice 
break,  is  it  not  the  partaking  of  the  body  of  the  Lord  ?\  And 
the  Calvinists  add :  communion  through  faith,  participation 
through  faith,  &c. 

In  the  next  chapter,  St.  Paul,  after  relating  the  institution 
of  the  Eucharist,  declares  that  he  who  eats  this  bread,  and 

*  John  vi.  54,  55,  56.  t  John  vi.  57,  58,  59. 

I.  Cor.  x.  16. 


PERPETUITY    OF    FAITH.  167 

drinks  this  chalice,  unworthily,  shall  be  guilty  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ;  and  he  invites  every  one  to  descend 
into  his  conscience  before  touching  this  bread  and  this  cha- 
lice; for,  he  adds,  Whosoever  eatelh  or  drinketh  unworthily, 
eateth  and  drinketh  judgment  to  himself,  not  discerning  the 
body  of  the  Lord.*  And  here,  too,  the  interpreters  of  the 
Reformation  heap  commentaries  upon  commentaries,  to  prove 
to  us  that  these  words  do  not,  by  any  means,  imply  the  real 
presence  in  the  supper  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord. 
Is  it  not  plain,  indeed,  that  the  Calvinist  who  has  the  misfor- 
tune to  swallow  a  morsel  of  bread  and  a  drop  of  wine  in  the 
temple,  without  having  justifying  faith,  is  a  monster  as  fright- 
ful as  he  who  outrages  and  crushes  under  foot  the  real  body 
and  blood  of  the  Son  of  God  ? 

In  the  midst  of  these  murmurs  of  the  faithless  disciples 
and  their  scandalous  efforts  to  falsify  or  pervert  the  words 
of  Christ,  what  is  the  course  of  the  Catholics  ?  like  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  they  listen  to  Jesus  Christ  and  are  silent ; 
if  they  are  interrogated,  they  answer  with  St.  Peter:  Lord, 
thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life ;  we  believe,  because  we 
know  that  thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.] 

I  appeal  to  every  honest  man  :  on  which  side  are  found  the 
believers  in  the  pure  word  of  the  Gospel  ?  on  which  side  the 
sacrilegious  cavillers  who  torture  it  in  a  thousand  ways  and 
encumber  it  with  the  most  absurd  explanations  to  extort  from 
it  the  contrary  of  what  it  declares  ? 

*  I.  Cor.  xi.  27  et  seq. 

f  Respondit  ergo  ei  Simon  Petrus :  Domine  ad  quern  ibimus  ? 
Verba  vitse  seternae  habes.  Et  nos  credidimus  et  cognovimus  quia  tu 
es  Christus  Filius  Dei.  (John  vi.  69,  70.) 


]G8.          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    XL. 

OBJECTIONS    AGAINST    THE     POSSIBILITY    OF    THE    REAL    PRES- 
ENCE.— ANALOGOUS    MYSTERIES    IN    THE    NATURAL    ORDER. 

IN  order  to  justify  such  complicated  and  absurd  commen- 
taries on  the  signification  of  words  so  simple  and  so  clear, 
the  advocates  of  the  figurative  sense  never  fail  to  insist  on 
the  alleged  absurdity  which  the  literal  sense  would  involve. 
How  can  we  imagine  Jesus  Christ  inclosed  in  a  small  wafer 
and  in  each  of  its  visible  parts,  present  simultaneously  on 
a  hundred  thousand  altars  and  constantly  occupied  with 
changing  bread  into  his  body  and  wine  into  his  blood ! 

How ! — this,  also,  the  people  of  Capharnaum  asked  and 
the  unbelieving  disciples,*  more  excusable  than  those  Calvin- 
ists  who  still  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  eternal 
Word  who  spoke  and  the  heavens  and  the  earth  were  created. 

These  difficulties  are  not  of  yesterday :  they  also  pre- 
sented themselves  to  the  minds  of  the  early  Fathers  of  the 
Church,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  Hilary,  St.  Cyril,  St.  Jerome  and 
St.  Augustine;  but  instead  of  shaking  their  faith,  they  only 
led  them  still  more  to  admire  in  the  adorable  food  given  by 
the  God  of  Mercy  to  those  who  fear  him,  the  magnificent  com- 
pletion of  the  Divine  prodigies.f 

St.  Gregory,  of  Nyssa,  and  St.  John  Chrysostom  asked, 
"  How  can  this  one  body,  being  distributed  to  thousands  of 
the  faithful,  be  entire  in  each  one, and  remain  entire  in  itself; 
how  can  Jesus  Christ  be  offered  in  so  many  different  places 
at  the  same  time ;  the  identity  of  the  victim,  and  the  unity 

*  Quomodo  potest  hie  nobis  carnem  suam  dare  ad  manducandum  ? 
— Durus  est  hie  sermo,  et  quis  potest  eum  audire  ?  (John  vi.  53  61.) 

t  Memoriam  fecit  mirabilium  suorum  misericors  et  miserator  Domi- 
nus  ;  escam  obedit  timentibus  se.  (Ps.  ex.  4,  5.) 


ANALOGOUS    MYSTERIES.  169 

of  the  sacrifice  not  being  injured  by  this  diversity  and 
multiplicity.* 

There  is  r.o  objection,  even  to  that  of  which  J.  J.  Rousseau 
boasts  so  absurdly  in  his  Lettre  a  I'Archeveque  de  Paris,  which 
St.  Jerome  and  St.  Augustine  have  not  very  plainly  seen.  The 
former  asks  us  to  admire  Jesus  Christ  seated  at  the  banquet 
of  his  sacred  body,  himself  eating  and  being  eaten  there ;  f 
the  other  speaks  to  us  of  the  unheard  of  prodigy  by  which 
the  Savior  at  the  Supper  held  and  carried  his  body  in  his  own 
hands>| 

What  led  these  great  men  to  believe  things  so  incredible  ? 
the  power  of  that  Divine  word  which  having  called  into  exist- 
ence substances  that  were  not,  can  very  well  change  one  sub- 
stance into  another.  They,  in  their  turn  asked  those  who 
questioned  how  wine  could  become  the  blood  of  Christ,  how 
water  could  be  changed  into  wine  at  the  marriage  of  Cana. 
They  asked  of  those  who  were  astonished  to  see  the  body  of 
Jesus  Christ  inclosed  in  so  narrow  a  space,  how  the  Infinite 
Word  could  be  confined  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin.  They 
opposed  miracle  to  miracle,  mystery  to  mystery,  and  proved 
that  it  was  necessary  to  admit  everything  or  reject  everything. 
In  fact  there  is  no  difficulty  in  the  real  presence  and  transub- 
stantiation,  which  the  deist  could  not  discover  in  the  Incarna- 
tion, Trinity,  &c. ;  and  the  deist  brings  nothing  against  the 
mysteries  of  Christianity,  which  the  atheist  could  not  bring 
against  the  profound  mystery  of  an  Eternal  and  Infinite  God. 
Cecil,  in  the  Octavius  of  Minutius  Felix,  considered  as  incre- 
dible the  existence  of  a  being,  curious  even  to  impertinence, 
who  wishes  to  see  everything  and  understand  everything  and 
who  by  his  omnipresence  is  necessarily  found  in  many  places 
which  the  honest  man  would  wish  to  avoid.§ 

*  St.  Greg.  Nyss.,  Orat.  Catech.,  chap.  37.— St.  John  Chrys.,  Homil. 
in  Ep.  ad  Hebr. 

t  Ep.  ad  Hedibiam.  J  Ps.  in  Psalm  xxxiii.         §  Octav.  §  x. 

VOL.   II.  15 


170  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

The  chain  of  our  ignorance  is  far  reaching.  He  who 
would  believe  only  what  he  can  comprehend,  will  believe 
nothing;  for  everywhere  there  is  mystery.  It  is  the  part  of 
fcols  to  find  incomprehensible  things  only  in  religion. 

Doubtless  it  will  be  said,  that  the  Holy  Fathers  were  liberal 
in  their  transactions  with  God  and  that  not  knowing  as  we 
do  the  inviolable  limit  which  Divine  power  encounters  in  the 
essence  of  matter,  they  dealt  freely  in  physical  impossibili- 
ties. I  should  be  very  desirous  to  know  what  modern  science 
has  taught  us  really  new  concerning  the  essence  of  bodies 
and  their  immutable  relations  with  space.  Show  me  the  limit 
where  matter  can  say  to  the  Creator :  Thus  far  slialt  thou 
come,  but  no  farther* 

He  who  has  long  sought  to  comprehend  what  is  really 
primitive  and  incomprehensible  in  matter  will  find  the  circle 
of  physical  impossibilities  singularly  contracted,  while  that  of 
ignorance  becomes  immeasurably  expanded. 

With  regard  to  acquired  science  and  philosophical  penetra- 
tion, I  do  not  imagine  that  even  among  our  adversaries  many 
pretend  to  be  superior  to  their  fellow  believer  Leibnitz ;  and 
yet  this  great  man  has  told  us  that  after  four  years  of  pro- 
found meditation  on  the  subject  which  occupies  us,  he  has 
been  brought  to  acknowledge  that  "  God  can  cause  the  sub- 
stance of  the  same  body  to  be  at  the  same  time  in  many 
separate  places  or  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing  exist 
under  many  species."  f 

Let  those  who  find  so  much  difficulty  in  the  idea  that  the 
smallest  visible  portion  of  a  wafer  contains  the  body  of 
Christ,  explain  to  us  how  God  has  inclosed  in  a  small  black 
grain,  ten  thousand  of  which  would  not  fill  your  hand,  a 
gigantic  tree,  or  rather  an  innumerable  quantity  of  those 

*  Job  xxxviii.  11. 

t  Systerne  Th£olog.t  art.  Euchar. — Pensies  de  Lcilnitz. 
a  Jlrnaud. 


ANALOGOUS    MYSTERIES.  171 

trees;  for  there  is  not  a  pine  of  our  forest  which  could  not  in 
time  cover  the  globe  with  its  kind. 

Let  those  who  do  not  comprehend  how  the  uncreated  sun 
which  enlightens  every  man  who  comes  into  the  world,  can 
re-produce  the  material  being  which  is  united  to  it,  in  a  hun- 
dred millions  of  persons  at  the  same  time,  without  injury  to  its 
numerical  unity,  explain  to  us  how  the  same  luminous  rays 
which  proceed  from  the  sun  or  are  put  in  motion  by  that 
planet,  can  simultaneously  re-produce  its  image  in  innumera, 
Lie  reflectors  and  yet  the  integrity  and  identity  of  the  image 
remain  unbroken  by  their  number?  These  things  are  very 
different,  it  will  be  said.  Yes,  they  are  different;  but  whoever 
has  studied  the  laws  of  reflection  without  being  dazzled  by  its 
technology  will  find  that  the  only  sensible  difference  between 
these  two  phenomena  is  that  we  believe  the  second  on  the  testi- 
mony of  the  eyes  without  comprehending  it,  whilst  we  admit  the 
first  on  the  word  of  God  without  comprehending  or  seeing  it. 

It  will  be  asked  again,  how  the  Eternal  Word  of  God, 
clothed  with  a  human  body  and  elevated  by  the  resurrection 
to  its  Ingnest  power,  can  communicate  itself  really,  totally 
and  simultaneously  to  two  hundred  millions  of  men.  Let  it 
be  explained  to  us  how  the  human  word,  being  also  complex, 
since  it  strikes  the  ear  and  enlightens  the  understanding, 
coming  forth  as  it  does  from  one  mouth,  can  reach  at  the 
same  time  in  its  intellectual  and  physical  identity  the  ear  and 
the  soul  of  ten  thousand  auditors.* 

Finally,  the  atheist  can  make  this  objection  against  the 
mullilocalion  of  the  body  of  Christ,  with  as  much  reason 
against  the  existence  of  God,  who,  because  he  is  infinite  is 
necessarily  omnipresent  without  ceasing  to  be  one.  The  spi- 
rituality of  the  Divine  Being  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject. 

*  Doubtless  the  youth  who  has  learned  his  acoustics  by  heart,  will 
laugh  at  the  simplicity  of  this  problem;  but  I  propose  it  to  those  who 
have  renewed  their  studies. 


172  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

God  is  a  substance,  and  the  question  is  precisely  whether  a 
substance  can  exist  simultaneously  in  different  places. 

It  is  evident,  then,  that  all  the  objections  against  the  real 
presence  proves  but  one  thing,  our  ignorance  of  the  means 
by  which  it  is  effected.  Is  this  surprising?  The  Eucharist 
is,  like  the  Incarnation  of  which  it  is  the  complement,  the 
highest  act  of  omnipotence  inspired  by  Divine  love. 


CHAPTER    XLI. 

FUNCTIONS  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  IN  THE  EUCHARIST.— FUNDAMEN- 
TAL IDEA  OF  SACRIFICE. ITS   UNIVERSALITY. EUCHAR- 

ISTIC    SACRIFICE. EFFECT    OF    ITS   ABOLITION    IN 

PROTESTANT    WORSHIP. 

THE  real  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  altar  once  ad- 
mitted, one  question  arises  in  all  minds:  What  does  Jesus 
Christ  in  the  midst  of  us?  What  can  he  do  but  continue  his 
part  of  Mediator  between  God  and  man  !  An  eternal  priest 
according  io  the  order  of  Melchisedech,*  always  interceding 
for  us,  in  the  bosom  even  of  the  repose  and  glory  which  he 
enjoys  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Falher,\  can  he  be  present  on 
our  altars,  without  fulfilling  towards  God,  as  Head  of  the 
Church,  the  duty  of  perfect  adorer,  and  without  fulfilling 
towards  man,  still  stained  by  sin,  the  functions  of  Sanctifier 
and  Savior? 

The  consequence  is  so  plain,  that  the  most  enlightened 
Protestants  have  been  obliged  to  admit,  with  Bossuet,  that  the 
whole  question  of  sacrifice  must  really  be  reduced  to  that  of 
the  real  presence.\ 

Here  let  us  raise  our  thoughts,  and  endeavor  to  form  to 
*  P».  cix.  4.  t  Rom.  viii.  34. — Heb.  vii.  25. 

J  Exposition  de  la  Doctrine,  &c.  §  xv. 


EUCHARISTIC    SACRIFICE.  173 

ourselves  a  just  idea  of  Sacrifice,  that  common  foundation  of 
all  the  religions  of  the  world. 

Man,  the  workmanship  of  God,  is  devoted  and  consecrated 
to  his  Author,  by  virtue  even  of  his  existence.  The  first  law 
of  his  being  is  to  adore  his  Creator;  that  is,  to  offer  himself 
to  kirn  in  testimony  of  his  total  dependence,  and  say  to  him : 
"  It  is  through  Thee,  Great  God,  that  I  am  all  that  I  am ; 
accept  the  offering  that  I  make  of  myself,  and  if  it  please 
Thee  to  endow  me  with  thy  gifts,  let  me  use  them  only  for 
thy  glory !"  It  is  in  this  oblation,  which  refers  to  God  the 
glory  of  his  works,  that  the  essence  of  religion  consists,  and 
every  religious  act  which  is  not  in  some  way  connected  with 
it,  is  without  value  before  God. 

This  act,  man  in  his  innocence  performed  in  his  heart,  and 
outwardly  produced,  without  doubt,  by  some  symbol.  God, 
who  beheld  in  man  only  the  image  of  his  own  perfections, 
and  the  yet  unsullied  work  of  his  own  hand,  accepted  this 
offering,  and  corresponded  to  it  by  an  increase  of  grace. 

Man  became  degraded  by  sin.  Oblation  is  impossible. 
What  has  he  to  offer  to  God,  but  a  corrupted  nature,  the  ob- 
ject of  contempt  and  anger?  How  is  this  nature  to  be  so 
purified  as  to  find  favor  in  the  eye  of  God?  By  blood  ;  for 
in  that  is  concealed  an  expiating  virtue.*  Indeed,  the  life  is 
in  the  blood,f  and  the  loss  of  blood  or  of  life  is  the  just  satis- 
faction which  God  demands  from  him  who  dares  to  rebel 
against  him.| 

But  what  blood  can  cleanse  the  deep  corruption  of  the  soul, 
and  the  horrible  injury  inflicted  upon  the  divine  Majesty? 
That  of  man  is  too  vile  and  impure,  and,  if  it  flowed  eternally 
under  the  hand  of  the  executioner  of  divine  justice,  he  could 

*  Sanguis  pro  animae  piaculo  sit.  (Levit.  xvii.  11.)  Sine  sanguinic 
cfTusione  non  fit  remissio.  (Hebr.  ix.  22.) 

t  Anima  carnis  in  sanguine  est.     (Levit.  xvii.  11 — alibi.) 
J  Stipendia  enim  pcccati,  mors.     (Rom.  vi.  23.) 
15* 


174  THE    SOLUTION   OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

never  exclaim  :  It  is  enough !  I  pardon  man  ;  he  can  re-appear 
before  me  without  fear. 

The  Word  offers  the  blood  which  he  has  resolved  to  re- 
ceive from  a  woman.  The  sacrifice  is  accepted,  and  is 
already  realised  in  the  divine  intention  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world.*  Infinite  compassion  is  waiting  to  apply  the  fruits 
of  it  to  sinful  man,  who  is  instructed  in  the  remedy  which  divine 
love  is  preparing  for  him ;  and  the  attempt  of  the  Divine  Re- 
storer, who  alone  is  able,  by  his  sacrifice,  to  reconcile  humanity 
with  God,  becomes  the  basis  of  religion  among  all  people."}" 

To  unite  oneself  to  the  great  victim,  and  participate  in 
his  merits,  is  the  rite  universally  practised.  As  man  is  to 
be  rescued,  it  is  the  creature  nearest  to  man,  and  the  purest, 
who  must  represent  the  agent  for  humanity.  All  the  sins 
of  the  people  will  be  called  down  on  his  devoted  head,  the 
decree  of  death,  which  is  pronounced  on  sin,  must  afterwards 
be  executed  on  him.  Purified  by  blood,  the  victim  will 
appear  on  the  altar,  and  will  find  only  sweetness  in  the  coun- 
tenance of  his  God.  The  people,  then,  will  communicate,  will 
unite  themselves  to  the  victim  by  his  blood,  with  which  they 
are  sprinkled,  by  his  flesh,  which  they  will  incorporate  with 
themselves,  and  they  will  be  pardoned  and  sanctified.J 

Immolation,  oblation,  communion,  are  the  three  fundamental 
ideas  which  appear  in  the  profound  mystery  of  sacrifice. 

It  must  be  observed,  that  real  immolation  does  not  enter 
into  the  absolute  and  primitive  notion  of  sacrifice.  It  sup- 
poses the  unrepaired  guilt  of  man.  The  blood  of  the  victim 

*  Agni  qui  occisus  est  ab  origine  mundi.     (Apoc.  xiii.  S.) 

t  See  De  Maistre,  Eclaircissemcnts  sur  Ics  Sacrifices.     Schmitt, 

Redemption   du  genre   humain,   annonce's   par  les  traditions,   ct 

figurie  par  les  sacrifices  de  tons  les  peuples. 

J  Leviticus  attests  the  existence  of  these  practices  among  the  Jews, 

and  MM.  de  Maistre  and  Schmitt  prove,  in  the  works  above  quoted, 

that  they  have  been  in  use  among  all  nations. 


EUCIIARISTIC    SACRIFICE.  175 

is  shed ;  because  sin,  always  weighing  upon  him,  demands 
death.  Immolation  precedes  purification,  purification  pre- 
cedes oblation.  Possessing  a  victim  pure,  holy,  and  agreeable 
to  God,  and  who,  by  virtue  of  his  blood  once  shed,  has  fully 
satisfied  the  divine  justice,  you  can  offer  him  every  day  with- 
out shedding  his  blood  anew.  This  takes  place  in  the  Eu- 
charist. Jesus  Christ,  by  the  bloody  oblation  of  Calvary 
alone,  having  given  superabundant  satisfaction,  according  to 
the  Apostle,  for  all  human  iniquities,*  it  is  no  longer  neces- 
sary that  his  blood  should  really  be  separated  from  the  body 
upon  our  altars ;  it  is  sufficient  that  it  be  so  mystically — that 
is  to  say,  that  the  spiritual  sword  of  the  words  of  consecra- 
tion, while  separating  the  blood  from  the  body  only  in  ap- 
pearance, powerfully  recalls  the  remembrance  of  the  sacrifice 
on  the  cross,  in  conformity  to  the  precept:  Do  this  in  me- 
mory of  me.  For  as  often  as  you  shall  eat  this  bread,  .  .  . 
you  shall  show  the  death  of  the  Lord.\ 

The  Savior  being,  then,  on  the  altar,  full  of  that  life  which 
he  can  no  more  lose,|  is  perpetually  offering  himself  to  his 
Father,  by  the  ministry  of  the  priest,  in  the  name  of  the  Chris- 
tian people  who  are  united  to  him.  By  this  infinitely  pleasing 
oblation,  he  furnishes  us  the  means  of  accomplishing  perfectly 
the  duty  of  adoration,  of  rendering  to  the  Most  High  as  much 

*  Una  enim  oblatione  consummavit  in  sernpiterum  sanctificatos. 
(Heb.  x.  14.) 

t  Luke  xxii.  19. — I.  Cor.  xi.  26.  This  principle,  that  the  essence 
of  sacrifice  consists  in  the  oblation,  and  not  in  the  immolation,  radi- 
cally destroys  the  objection  that  Protestants  make,  that  where  there  is 
no  real  immolation,  as  in  the  Eucharist,  there  can  be  no  real  sacri- 
fice. I  do  not  see  how  theologians  who  maintain  the  necessity,  not 
hypotheticalty,  but  absolutely,  of  immolation,  can  resolve  this  diffi- 
culty. In  fact,  if  immolation  is  a  necessary  element  of  sacrifice,  the 
sacrifice  will  correspond  to  the  nature  of  the  immolation ;  and,  if  this 
is  only  apparent,  the  sacrifice  is  only  apparent.  How  can  a  thing  vary 
in  its  absolute  qualities  ! 

J  Christus  resurgens  ex  mortuis  jam  non  moritur.     (Rom.  vi.  9.) 


176          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

glory  as  our  crimes  have  taken  from  him,  of  testifying  to  him 
as  much  gratitude  as  his  benefits  demand,  and  obtaining  from 
him  as  many  graces  as  our  necessities  require. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  appeases  God,  and  disposes  him 
to  shed  down  upon  us  his  blessings,  Christ  the  Mediator  is 
occupied  with  effacing  and  preventing  our  constantly  recur- 
ring sins,  strengthening  our  weakness,  detaching  us  from  our 
selves,  elevating  us  to  God;  and  how?  Let  us  admire  here 
the  excess  of  his  love.  By  the  real  communication  which  he 
makes  us  of  his  flesh  and  his  blood,  united  to  his  soul  and  his 
divinity,  he  enters  entire  into  each  of  us,  to  transform  us  into 
himself.  If  we  do  not  place  any  obstacle  to  the  sovereignly 
powerful  influence  of  his  divine  being,  his  soul  assimilates  our 
soul  to  itself,  his  flesh  is  incorporated  with  our  flesh,  and  his 
blood  circulates  in  our  veins :  the  child  of  man  disappears, 
absorbed  into  the  Son  of  God.  //  is  not  we  who  live,  but 
Christ  who  liveth  in  vs.*  The  inhabitant  of  earth  has  no  rea- 
son to  envy  the  inhabitant  of  Heaven,  except  the  spectacle  of 
the  infinite  good  which  he  possesses. 

What,  then,  is  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  ?  It  is  the  most 
animated  and  lively  representation,  the  most  efficacious  appli- 
cation imaginable,  of  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Cross;  it  is  its 
continuation  through  ages,  in  the  presence  of  all  the  genera- 
tions called  to  participate  in  it ;  it  is  its  application  to  every 
individual.  In  this  sacrifice  which  sums  up  his  whole  life — • 
which  is  signified  by  these  words :  Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  me — "  Jesus  Christ  gives  us,"  said  a  profound  theologian, 
"  all  that  he  has  done  for  us :  his  immolation,  objective  as  it 
was,  becomes  subjective,  adapted  to  each  of  us  individually. 
The  Redeemer  sacrificing  himself  for  us  on  the  Cross,  is  still 
a  stranger  to  us ;  in  worship,  he  is  our  own  peculiar  posses- 
sion, our  victim.  There,  he  gave  himself  for  all  men  ;  here, 
he  gives  himself  for  each  of  us."f 

*  Galat.  ii.  20.  f  Moehlcr,  Symbolism,  vol.  i.  p.  3J9. 


EUCHARISTIC    SACRIFICE.  177 

Ho\v  can  I  refuse  to  open  my  heart  to  this  affecting  con- 
viction that  all  which  Jesus  Christ  has  done  and  suffered,  he 
has  done  and  suffered  for  me  as  if  I  had  been  alone  in  the 
world,*  when  I  receive  him  entire  in  this  minute  form  in 
in  which  I  have  just  seen  him  becoming  incarnate,  at  the 
voice  of  his  minister ;  inclosing  himself  for  many  days  in  a 
tabernacle  less  pure  than  the  womb  of  Mary,  suffering  anew 
the  sneers  of  the  impious,  filled  with  disgust  for  our  indiffer- 
ence and  exposing  himself  to  fall  into  the  mouth  of  the 
sacrilegious! 

I  have  answered,  I  believe,  to  the  reproach  made  against 
us  by  Protestants,  of  violating  the  glorious  unity  of  the  sacri- 
fice of  Jesus  Christ,  opposed  by  St.  Paul  to  the  multitude  of 
sacrifices  of  the  ancient  law,f  and  of  degrading  the  oblation 
of  Calvary  by  the  daily  repetition  of  it. 

The  Catholic  Church  has  read  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Hebrews,  and  understands  aright  the  texts  produced,  but  she 
also  attaches  importance  to  innumerable  passages  of  St.  Paul| 
and  the  ancient  prophets,  which  all  imply,  under  the  new  law, 
the  existence  of  an  altar,  of  a  priesthood  and  a  victim  witJiout 
stain  offered  in  every  place,§  passages  which  the  Protestant 
commentator  only  perverts. 

The  Catholic  Church  also  believes  that  the  greatest  injury 
which  can  be  done  to  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Cross,  is  to  allow 
its  memory  to  fade  away  among  Christians,  is  to  expose  them 
to  lose  the  fruits  of  it  by  a  wholly  profane  life.  Now,  what 
is  better  adapted  to  prevent  this  evil  than  the  pressing  invita- 
tion she  gives  them,  to  be  present  every  day,  at  most  every 
eight  days  at  the  great  Mystery,  and  there  eat  the  flesh, 
and  drink  the  blood  of  the  august  victim  ! 

*  Tradidit  semetipsum  pro  me.  (Galat.  ii.  20.)  f  Hebr.  x.  14. 

t  I.  Cor.  x.  13  et  seq.— Hebr.  xiii.  10. 

§  Isa.  xix.  19. — Ixvi.  2.  Jerem.  xxxiii.  18.  Dan.  viii.  11;  xii.  11. 
Malach.  i.  10,  11.  Ps.  cix.  4. 


178  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

The  admirable  efficacy  of  such  an  institution  to  impress 
on  the  mind  and  heart  in  characters  of  fire  the  memory  of  the 
crucified  God,  the  deep  life  which  it  communicates  to  a  wor- 
ship, all  the  ceremonies  of  Avhich  harmonise  with  the  action 
which  is  their  centre ;  the  moral  omnipotence  which  it  gives 
to  the  evangelical  ministry,  are  all  so  many  powerful  reasons 
which  Luther  could  have  opposed  to  the  wretched  sophistry 
of  his  interlocutor,  in  the  famous  dialogue  in  which  Satan 
succeeds  in  convincing  him  that  the  Mass  is,  an  abomination 
that  surpasses  all  other  abominations.*  But  this  man  who 
boldly  burned  the  bulls  of  Leo  X.  which  proclaimed  the 
doctrine  of  the  Universal  Church  and  who,  in  his  answer  to 
Henry  VIII.  wrote  :  "If  I  should  have  against  me  a  thousand 
Cyprians  and  a  thousand  Augustins,  I  should  deride  them,"  that 
man  could  only  listen  and  submit  when  Satan  addressed  him. 

What  have  Protestants  gained  by  yielding,  like  Luther,  to 
the  father  of  lies,  against  the  uniform  testimony  of  the  Pro- 
phets, of  Christ,  the  Apostles,  the  Holy  Fathers  and  all  Chris- 
tian antiquity?  They,  alone,  among  all  the  nations  upon 
whom  the  sun  has  ever  shone  (except  the  Jews)  they  are  with- 
out, an  altar,  without  a  priesthood,  witJiout  a  sacrifice.^  Having 
no  longer  with  them  him  whose  powerful  voice  makes  our 
supplications  penetrate  even  to  the  heart  of  God,J  they  have 
seen  public  prayer  expiring  in  their  religious  assemblies,  "  and 
their  empty  and  silent  temples  seem  rather  to  be  the  sepul- 
chres of  a  dead  worship,  than  the  temples  of  a  living  worship."  § 

*  Those  who  are  desirous  of  reading  this  ever  memorable  document, 
and  who  have  not  at  hand  the  works  of  Luther,  will  find  it  extracted 
word  for  word,  from  the  7th  vol.  of  his  works,  Wittemberg  edition,  in 
the  new  edition  of  Lettres  de  Scheffmacher,  by  M.  Caillau,  vol.  iii. 
p.  99,  et  seq. 

f  Hose.  iii.  4. 

|  Preces  supplicationesque  .  .  .  cum  clamore  valido  ct  lacrymis  of- 
ferens,  exauditus  est  pro  sua  rcverentia.  (Heb.  5,  7.) 

§  Wiseman,  Lecture  5lh. 


MORAL    INFLUENCE    OF    JESUS    CHRIST.          179 


CHAPTER    XLII. 

MORAL    INFLUENCE    OF    JESUS    CHRIST    ON    THE    SOUL    IN    THE 

EUCHARIST. VIRTUES    OF    WHICH    HE    GIVES    THE 

EXAMPLE. CONNECTION    OF    THE    EUCHARIST 

WITH    PENANCE. 

THE  sanctifying  influence  which  Jesus  Christ  exercises 
directly  over  the  soul  to  which  he  unites  himself  in  commu- 
nion, is  doubtless  of  infinite  power  if  considered  in  itself; 
but  it  is  limited  in  its  effects  by  human  will  which  yields  or 
resists,  at  pleasure,  the  impulse  towards  sanctity,  which  Christ 
impresses  upon  it.  The  will  then  must  be  influenced,  and  the 
best  means  of  determining  it  to  the  practice  of  virtue,  is  to 
realise  virtue  in  the  living  lesson  of  example. 

The  sublime  maxims  of  Jesus  Christ's  Sermon  on  the 
Mount*  would  only  have  produced  a  fruitless  admiration 
among  the  children  of  men,  if  the  Savior  had  not  joined  the 
influence  which  overrules  the  sluggishness  of  the  heart,  to  the 
word  which  enlightens  the  mind.  It  was  by  doing,  far  more 
than  by  teaching,  that  he  has  determined  so  many  souls  to 
follow  him  in  the  difficult  paths  of  self-denial.f  But  every 
one  knows  that  example  loses  much  of  its  efficacy  in  passing 
through  the  medium  of  history,  and  that  virtues  perceived  at 
the  distance  of  eighteen  centuries  are  not  sufficiently  elo- 
quent to  move  our  hearts !  It  was  then  very  necessary  that 
the  Divine  model  of  the  elect  should  dwell  in  the  midst  of  us 
full  of  grace  and  truth,  and  that  he  should  offer  to  each  one 
the  living  picture  of  the  same  virtues  which  charmed  the  wit- 
nesses of  his  mortal  life  and  attached  to  him  so  powerfully 
the  heart  of  his  disciples. 

This  need,  Jesus  Christ  satisfies  in  his  Eucharistic  life ;  at 
the  same  time  that  he  acts,  if  I  may  thus  say,  physically  on 
*  Matth.  v.  t  Act.  Ap.  i.  1. 


ISO  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  soul  by  the  sacramental  virtue  of  the  Communion,  he  acts 
morally  on  the  understanding  and  will  by  the  overpowering 
spectacle  of  the  virtues  of  which  he  offers  us  the  example. 
Let  us  limit  ourselves  to  a  few  considerations  on  a  subject 
which  would  demand  a  volume. 

In  order  that  the  sinner  may  return  to  God,  he  must  open 
his  heart  to  a  filial  confidence  in  the  Divine  compassion  and 
say  as  the  prodigal  child :  /  will  arise,  and  I  will  go  and 
throw  myself  at  the  feet  of  the  lest  of  my  fathers.*  This  is 
not  an  easy  thing.  The  first  effect  of  the  entrance  of  crime 
into  the  soul  is  to  pervert  the  idea  of  God.  Instead  of  a 
Father  infinitely  good,  more  sensible  of  the  wo  of  his  chil- 
dren than  of  the  injuries  he  receives  from  them,  and  always 
ready  to  pardon  sincere  repentance,  the  sinner  looks  upon 
God  only  as  a  cruel  master,  armed  with  thunderbolts.  Hence 
that  profound  aversion  which  leads  him  to  avoid  the  thought 
and  the  presence  of  God.  Like  guilty  Adam,  he  conceals 
himself;f  like  the  first  fratricide,  he  often  repels  the  Divine 
advances,  and  abandoned  to  a  secret  despair,  he  passes  the 
rest  of  his  days  far  from  the  face  of  God.\ 

What  means  will  infinite  compassion  employ  to  recall  this 
fugitive,  to  subdue  this  savage  ?  She  will  descend  to  earth 
and  assume  a  body  and  a  soul,  she  will  take  the  name  of  the 
Friend  of  sinners  ;§  and  while  conversing  and  eating  with 
them,  will  entangle  them  in  the  nets  of  his  love.]]  He  is 
no  longer  the  God  of  Sinai  speaking  in  thunder;  he  is  the 
Son  of  the  Virgin,  charming  the  multitude  by  the  grace  and 
sweetness  of  his  words,1T  receiving  sinners  with  unspeakable 
kindness  and  urging  them  to  give  by  their  return  joy  to  the 
angels  of  God.**  He  is  the  good  shepherd,  who  leaves  the 
ninety  and  nine  faithful  sheep  to  follow  that  which  has  gone 

*  Luke  xv.  18.         t  Genes,  iii.  8.  J  Genes,  iv.  16. 

§  Luke  vii.  34.        ||  In  vinculis  charitatis.  (Hos.  xi.  4.) 
IT  Luke  iv.  22.         **  Ibid  xv.  10. 


MORAL    INFLUENCE    OF    JESUS    CHRIST.  181 

astray,  and  spares  him  the  fatigue  of  returning  by  bearing 
him  on  his  shoulders.* 

Could  Jesus  Christ  manifest  more  strikingly  his  unspeak- 
able tenderness  for  sinners,  and  his  ardent  zeal  for  their  sal- 
Vation  than  he  does  in  the  adorable  sacrament  in  which  he 
condemns  himself  to  remain  on  the  earth  so  long  as  there  is 
one  soul  to  save  ? 

How  effectually  can  the  infinite  Divine  mercy  be  preached, 
and  hearts  opened  to  receive  hope  before  the  altars  where 
Jesus  Christ  resides!  For  one  sinner  who  has  yielded  to 
these  terrible  words  of  the  Sovereign  Judge  of  the  living  and 
the  dead :  Go,  ye  c.ursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  how  many  thou- 
sands have  yielded  to  the  tender  invitations  of  the  Divine 
Recluse  of  our  tabernacles:  Come  to  me,  all  ye  who  groan 
under  the  weight  of  your  crimes,  and  I  will  console  you  !  \ 

After  the  sinner  has  been  led  to  God,  he  must  be  brought 
to  annihilate  himself  before  that  Supreme  Majesty,  to  which 
he  has  dared  to  say,  ia  the  delirium  of  pride ;  I  will  not  obey 
thee ;  |  for  if  God  turns  with  indignation  from  him  who 
exalts  himself,  he  lovingly  condescends  to  him  who  humbles 
himself. 

You,  who  are  repelled  by  the  very  word  humility  because 
you  have  never  endeavored  to  comprehend  this  simple  truth, 
that  it  is  folly  for  a  being,  created  from  nothing,  to  attribute 
to  himself  anything,  behold  God  concealed  under  the  Eucha- 
ristic  species. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  wonderful  humiliation  when  the  Son  of 
God  was  wrapped  in  poor  swaddling  clothes  and  laid  crying 
in  a  manger!  but  he  was  an  infant.  It  was  a  dreadful  spec- 
tacle when  the  King  of  Kings  was  crushed  under  foot  by  his 
executioners;  and  expired  on  the  infamous  wood  between 
two  criminals!  Yet,  amid  the  sighs  of  the  victim,  and  the 
blood  that  flowed  in  streams  from  his  wounds,  a  living 
*  Luke  iv.  5.  f  Matth.  xi.  2S.  {  Jerem.  ii.  20. 

VOL.    II.  16 


182  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

body  was  visible.  But  here,  the  God,  the  man,  the  child, 
have  all  disappeared.  There  is  nothing  which  implies  life. 
What  do  we  see  ?  What  we  see  everywhere,  bread  and 
wine ;  and  yet  only  in  appearance.  It  is  mere  nothingness. 
After  that,  child  of  earth,  fallen  by  sin  below  that  nothing, 
which  is  pure  in  the  eye  of  God,  wilt  thou  dare  to  exalt 
thyself! 

It  is  by  opposing  his  will  to  the  supreme  will  that  man  ren- 
ders himself  guilty  of  infinite  disorder.  It  is  by  resigning  his 
will  into  the  hands  of  God,  and  of  every  creature  divinely 
appointed  for  the  government  of  society,*  that  man  compen- 
sates for  his  rebellion,  re-enters  into  order,  and  offers  to  God 
the  most  acceptable  of  sacrifices,  the  sacrifice  of  himself  ;f 
for  there  is  nothing  so  precious  or  so  dear  to  him  as  his  will. 

To  obtain  from  us  this  abnegation  of  self,  it  was  not  enough 
that  the  Son  of  God  obeyed  Mary  and  Joseph  |  for  thirty 
years ;  made  himself,  during  his  public  life,  the  servant  of  all,§ 
and  delivered  himself,  without  resistance,  to  his  executioners. 
For  eighteen  hundred  years  that  he  has  reigned  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father,  he  never  has  ceased  to  give  to  men  the 
example  of  the  most  universal  and  humiliating  obedience. 
Every  day  multitudes  of  priests,  be  they  fervent,  lukewarm, 
or  vicious — it  is  the  same — summon  him  where  it  pleases 
them,  give  him  to  whom  they  will,  confine  him  under  lock 
and  key,  and  dispose  of  him  at  their  will.  There  is  no  person, 
from  the  youth  to  the  old  man,  who  has  not  a  right  to  ask 
that  he  may  enter  into  his  heart,  and  whether  this  heart  be 
the  habitation  of  angels,  or  a  receptacle  of  the  infernal  legions 
of  vices;  Christ  muxt  obey.  There,  again,  the  Son  of  the 
Most  High  becomes  obedient  to  death.\\  What  will  is  so  irn 

*  I.  Peter  ii.  13. 

t  Melior  est  obedtentia  quatn  victim'*.  (I.  Kings  xv.  22.) 

J  Luke  ii.  51  §  Matth.  xx.  28.  ||  Philipp.  ii.  8. 


MORAL    INFLUENCE    OF    JESUS    CHRIST.          183 

patient  of  restraint  that  it  does  not  yield  to  the  yoke  of  obe- 
dience at  the  spectacle  of  such  self-abnegation  ! 

God,  who  is  called  charity  *  desires  not  a  heart  closed  to 
the  love  of  its  neighbor,  and  he  does  not  pardon  him  who 
refuses  pardon  to  his  brother.  Now  what  can  be  more  ad- 
apted to  melt  the  ice  of  selfishness,  and  dispose  the  most 
wounded  heart  for  the  forgetfulness  of  wrongs  and  injuries, 
than  the  daily  spectacle  of  a  God,  who,  not  content  with 
dying  for  us  when  ice  were  his  enemies,^  forgets  our  perpetual 
ingratitude  to  become  our  nourishment,  and  pours  out  for  us, 
in  love,  that  same  blood  that  we  have  shed  and  trampled 
under  foot  by  our  crimes.  How,  then,  can  I  wish,  and  do 
evil  to  this  brother,  who,  by  communion,  has  become  a  living 
member  of  Jesus  Christ!  Would  not  my  hatred  and  my 
blows  fall  upon  him  whom  I  adore!  The  Catholic  who  would 
open  his  heart  to  the  breath  of  hatred  and  vengeance  must 
first  renounce  his  faith. 

What  protection  have  we  against  the  allurements  of  dis- 
graceful pleasures,  like  that  thought  of  the  Apostle,  that  our 
ladies  are  the  members  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  we  cannot 
pollute  them  without  dreadful  sacrilege  !|  Could  he  degrade 
himself  to  the  level  of  a  brute,  who,  at  the  Eucharistic  ban- 
quet, has  felt  the  virginal  blood  of  the  Son  of  Mary  flowing 
through  his  veins! 

It  is  not  surprising  that,  in  a  church  where  Christ  in  person 
gives  every  day  such  instructions,  there  are  found  men  court- 
ing contempt,  enemies  of  their  own  will,  men  who  cheerfully 
sacrifice  their  lives  in  the  service  of  their  brethren,  and  who 
live  in  the  body  as  if  they  had  none. 

To  these  happy  effects,  in  the  midst  of  us,  of  the  real  pre- 
sence of  the  Divine  Physician  of  souls,  let  us  add  another  still 


*  I.  John  iv.  1G.  t  R°m.  v.  10. 

J  Nescitis  quoniam  corpora  vestra  membra  sunt  Chrisli  ?     Tollens 
ergo  membra  Christiv&c.  (I.  Ccr.  vii.  15.) 


184  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

more  so ;  it  is  the  determination  to  take  the  bitter  remedy  of 
Penance,  I  would  here  express  mj  own  thought,  in  the 
words  of  a  celebrated  Protestant  thinker:  "  Without  the  real 
presence  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  and  the  obligation 
to  receive  him  in  it  by  communion;  the  sacrament  of  penance, 
as  it  is  practised  in  the  Catholic  Church,  would  never  be  ac- 
cepted ;  and,  to  take  from  Catholicism  the  sacrament  of  pen- 
ance, is  to  close  up  the  source  of  the  virtues  which  it  offers 
to  our  admiration."*  We  will  begin  by  giving  an  idea  of 
penance. 


CHAPTER    XLIII. 

PRINCIPLES    OF   LUTHER    CONCERNING   PENANCE. PRINCIPLES 

OF    THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH. CONTRITION. 

NOTHING  sounds  so  ill  in  the  ear  of  the  world  as  the  word 
Penance.  Why  has  not  an  attempt  been  made  to  efface 
from  the  Gospel  this  unfortunate  expression?  But  certainly 
this  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  do.  What  do  we  find  in  Scrip- 
ture,  if  not  the  obligation  to  resist  the  impure  tendencies 
of  the  heart,  and  to  crucify  it  with  its  immoderate  desires! 
Of  the  seven  thousand  six  hundred  verses  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, there  are  three  thousand,  at  least,  which  make  pen- 
ance and  mortification  the  indispensable  condition  of  sal- 
vation for  the  sinner. 

If  the  law  of  toilsome  expiation  were  not  so  frequently  and 
clearly  laid  down  in  Scripture,  would  not  the  life  of  Jesus 
itself,  which  was  only  a  protracted  martyrdom,f  impose  on 
the  Christian  the  obligation  to  chastise  himself,  and  follow  the 

*  Lord  Fitz-William,  Letters  of  Jltticus,  5th. 

t  Tota  vita  Christ!  crux  fuit  et  martyrium.  (De  Imitationc  Clitisti, 
ii.  xii.  7. 


PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH.        1S5 

footsteps  of  the  Man  of  Sorrows!  How  could  he  hope  to 
share  the  glory  of  his  chief,  if  he  remained  a  stranger  to  his 
sufferings.* 

Yet  it  is  upon  the  sufferings  of  the  Mediator  that  the  au- 
thors of  the  Reformation  rely,  to  free  sinners  from  the  obli- 
gation of  suffering.  Christ,  according  to  them,  has  given  sa- 
tisfaction for  our  iniquities,  why  should  we  afflict  our  minds 
and  hearts  by  penances  which  would  add  nothing  to  the 
merits  of  the  Redeemer,  and  would  even  be  injurious  to 
them  ? 

If  it  was  objected,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  object  of 
Christian  penance  was  not  alone  to  expiate  sin  committed,  but 
to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  it,  and  that  there  is  a  certain 
demon,  according  to  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  can  be 
conquered  only  by  fasting  and  prayer. f  "  Leave  these  fine 
recipes,"  answered  Luther,  to  the  stupid  Papists ;  "  a  )d  if  you 
wish  to  put  the  devil  to  flight,  always  do  more  than  he  sug- 
gests to  you."  Let  us  listen  to  the  Apostle  of  Wittemberg 
instructing  his  followers  in  his  admirable  asceticism. 

"  Poor  Jerome  Weller,"  he  writes  to  a  friend  who  asked 
him  for  arms  against  the  devil,  "  thou  hast  temptations ;  they 
must  be  overcome.  When  the  devil  comes  to  tempt  thee, 
drink,  my  friend,  drink  freely,  make  merry,  sport  and  sin,  in 
hatred  of  the  evil  spirit,  and  to  torment  him.  If  he  says  to 
thee :  Will  you  not  stop  drinking,  answer  him :  I  will  drink 
glasses  full,  because  you  forbid  it ;  I  will  drink  great  draughts 
in  honor  of  Jesus  Christ.  Imitate  me,  I  never  drink  so  well, 
I  never  eat  so  much,  I  never  enjoy  myself  so  much  at  table, 
as  when  I  am  vexing  Satan.  I  should  really  like  to  find  some 
good  new  sin,  that  he  might  learn  to  his  cost,  that  I  ridicule 
everything  that  is  sin,  and  that  my  conscience  is  never  op- 
pressed by  it.  Away  with  the  Decalogue,  when  the  devil 

*  Si  tamen  compatimur,  ut  et  conglorificemur.  (Rom.  viii.  17.) 
t  Matth.  xvii.  20. 

16* 


186     THE  SOLUTION  OF  GREAT  PROBLEMS. 

comes  to  torment  us!  When  he  breathes  into  our  ear: 
'  Thou  sinnest ;  thou  art  worthy  of  death  and  hell.'  Ah,  my 
God !  yes,  I  know  it  only  too  well ;  what  would  you  tell  me  ? 
But  you  will  be  condemned  in  the  other  life.  It  is  not  true; 
I  know  some  one  who  has  suffered  and  given  satisfaction  for 
me  :  he  is  called  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God  ;  where  he  is,  there 
I  shall  be."  * 

Let  us  compare,  with  the  vile  prescriptions  of  the  apostle 
of  taverns,  the  salutary  remedy  which  the  Catholic  Church 
offers  to  the  Christian  who  has  had  the  misfortune  to  violate 
seriously  the  engagements  contracted  in  baptism.  To  free 
him  from  the  chains  of  sin,  she  prescribes  for  him  three 
things,  contrition,  confession,  satisfaction. 

"Contrition,"  says  the  Council  of  Trent,  "which  holds  the 
first  place  among  the  acts  of  penance,  is  sorrow  of  soul  and 
a  sincere  detestation  of  the  sin  committed,  with  a  firm  deter- 
mination never  more  to  commit  it."  f 

Contrition  is  the  penance  of  the  heart;  the  first  that  God 
requires,  and  without  which  fasting  and  maceration  of  the 
body  would  be  only  hypocrisy  in  his  eyes.J  From  the  heart, 
said  Jesus  Christ,  come  forth  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adul- 
teries, <^c.§  On  the  heart,  then,  punishment  must  first  be  in- 
flicted. It  is  that  which  by  sin  has  withdrawn  itself  from  the 
divine  control  to  place  itself  under  the  debasing  yoke  of  the 

*  The  remaining  words  refuse  themselves  to  any  translation :  (See 
Audin,  Histoire  de  Calvin,  ch.  xxv.  torn.  i.  p.  453.)  Other  recipes 
against  the  suggestions  of  the  devil  may  be  found  in  the  Memoires  de 
Luther,  Merits  par  lui-meme,  by  M.  Michelet,  liv.  v.  ch.  6.  Add 
to  that  the  Sermon  on  Marriage,  then  ask  what  is  to  be  thought  of 
the  nations  who  hailed  by  the  name  of  Apostle  and  Evangelist  the  im- 
pudent and  sacrilegious  libertine,  whom  Pagan  Rome  would  have  con- 
demned to  death  by  the  rod  of  the  lictor. 

\  Sess.  xiv.  De  Pcenit,  cap.  iv. 

f  Scindite  corda  vestra  et  non  vestimenta  vestra.  (Joel  ii.  13.) 

§  Matth.  xv.  19. 


PRINCIPLES    OF    THE    CATHOLIC    CHURCH.        187 


passions ;  it  must,  then,  be  brought  back,  crushed  with  sorrow 
and  covered  with  shame  *  to  the  feet  of  the  master  whom  it 
has  meanly  abandoned. 

Let  us  follow  the  series  of  virtuous  acts  by  which  the 
repentant  sinner  prepares  himself  freely  under  the  Divine  in- 
fluence of  grace  for  the  blessing  of  justification  according  to 
the  council  quoted  above.f  Nothing  can  be  more  logical, 
more  natural,  or  more  moral  than  the  path  it  marks  out  for 
this  prodigal  son,  by  which  he  can  be  delivered  from  the  abyss 
of  misery  into  which  crime  has  led  him  and  conducted  back 
to  his  home  where  the  embraces  of  the  kindest  of  fathers 
await  him,  and  the  joys  which  his  return  will  occasion. 

While  Protestant  justification  requires  but  two  unimportant 
acts  for  a  true  moral  renovation,  in  which  the  soul  receives 
the  Divine  influence  much  more  than  it  co-operates  with  it,J 

*  Cor  contritum  et  humiliatum,  Deus,  non  despicies.  (Ps.  i.  19.) 

t  Concil.  Trent.  Sess.  vi.  De  Justific.  cap.  vi. 

\  These  two  acts  are  at  first  the  fear,  the  terrors,  which  the  criminal 
experiences  in  view  of  his  sins  and  the  punishment  preparing  for  him 
by  the  divine  justice;  a  sentiment  adapted  it  is  true,  to  disturb  the 
factitious  pleasure  which  the  sinner  finds  in  crime,  but  incapable  of 
breaking  the  ties  which  bind  him  to  it.  The  fear  of  hell  can  delay  the 
steps  of  the  sinner  in  the  road  which  leads  to  it ;  but  of  itself  it  will 
not  lead  to  God  by  the  way  of  justice. 

Afterwards  comes  the  act  of  justifying  faith,  by  which  the  sinner 
seizes  the  robe  of  Christ's  righteousness,  covers  himself  with  it  as  with 
a  garment,  impenetrable  to  the  assaults  of  divine  vengeance,  and  ac- 
quires the  certainty  that,  however  polluted  he  may  be  in  himself,  he 
is  holy,  pure  and  perfect  before  God.  Shame,  decency,  it  is  true,  ob- 
liged the  leaders  of  the  Reformation  to  demand  of  the  justified  sinner 
a  new  life,  and  the  practice  of  virtue;  but,  as  we  have  already  observ- 
ed, the  corrective  disappears  before  the  Calvinistic  dogma  of  Persever- 
ance, and  before  the  principle  a  hundred  times  repeated  by  Luther, 
that  there  is  only  one  sin  worthy  of  damnation,  that  is  unbelief,  and 
that  the  most  enormous  crimes  repeated  a  hundred  times  a  day,  never 
corrupt  in  any  way  him  who  perseveres  in  thinking  he  is  holy.  (See  as 
above,  ch.  37.) 


188          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

The  Catholic  penitential  system  embraces  the  whole  interior 
man,  and  imposes  on  every  faculty  some  restoring  effort 
adapted  to  expel  the  diseased  principle  and  reinstate  the  soul 
in  its  normal  condition. 

Is  the  mind  of  the  sinner  touched  with  a  ray  of  divine 
light,  or  awakened  by  a  movement  of  the  heart,  given  from 
above,  does  he  determine  to  throw  off  the  lethargy  into 
which  the  intoxication  of  the  passions  has  plunged  him,  and 
place  himself,  by  meditation,  on  the  great  principles  of  faith, 
at  the  only  true  point  of  view  where  man  can  know  him- 
self? He  cannot  but  be  greatly  alarmed  at  the  account  he 
must  every  moment  give  at  the  tribunal  of  a  God  so  just 
in  the  duties  he  imposes  on  man,  so  munificent  in  the  re- 
wards he  promises,  so  terrible  in  the  punishments  he  inflicts, 
so  lavish  in  the  means  he  furnishes  to  merit  the  one,  and  avoid 
the  other. 

This  terror  penetrates  even  into  the  marrow  of  the  bones,* 
when  reflecting  on  the  past ;  the  sinner  discovers  in  it  so  much 
hostility  to  God  and  such  defiance  of  his  justice. 

But  God,  whose  avenging  arm  will  eternally  smite  the 
hosts  of  angels  guilty  of  one  rebellion  only,  is  also  the  God 
of  charity  who  has  delivered  up  his  own  Son  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world.  At  the  thought  of  the  all-powerful  Advo- 
cate who  solicits  and  always  obtains  pardon  for  him  who 
confidently  has  recourse  to  him/j-  hope  revives  in  the  criminal. 
His  heart  before  contracted  by  fear,  expands  and  gradually 
turns  lovingly  towards  the  compassionate  source  of  all  jus- 
tice. The  sin,  which  he  at  first  detested  as  bringing  down 

What  then  is  justification  according  to  the  principles  of  Calvin  and 
Luther  ?  It  is  a  divine  permission  to  sin,  which  takes  from  crime  its 
last  restraint,  fear  and  remorse. 

*  Non  est  pax  ossibus  meis  a  facie  peccatorum  meorurn.  (Ps.  xxxvii.  4.) 
f  Si  quis  peccaverit,  advocatum  habemus  apud  Patretn,  Jesum  Chris- 
tum. (John  ii.  1.) 


CONFESSION".  189 


upon  him  the  weight  of  celestial  vengeance,  appears  to  him 
much  more  odious  when  love  teaches  him  to  look  upon  it  as 
an  offence  against  a  supremely  good  and  infinitely  kind  Father. 

Such  are  the  holy  stations  through  which  the  Catholic 
Church  intends  the  sinner  should  pass  before  receiving  the 
sentence  of  absolution,  whenever  divine  love  does  not  diminish 
the  length  of  the  way  by  consuming  in  its  burning  flames  the 
pollutions  and  the  bonds  of  sin.  In  fact,  the  Church,  which 
judges  contrition  so  indispensable  to  the  validity  of  the  Sa- 
crament of  Penance,  that  no  absolution  on  the  part  of  the 
priest,  no  act  of  repentance  on  the  part  of  the  sinner  could 
ever  be  a  substitute  for  it,  attributes  to  it,  at  the  same  time, 
so  much  power,  when  it  is  inspired  by  divine  love,  that  it  can 
reconcile  the  sinner  with  God  before  the  sacramental  act* 

It  is  easy  to  see  the  effectual  securities  which  these  preli- 
minary acts  of  reconciliation  furnish  to  the  sinner  against  a 
relapse  into  vice.  It  is  easy,  too,  for  each  one  to  estimate 
the  justice  of  the  reproach  that  Protestants  bring  against  us, 
of  favoring  crime  by  making  confession  a  magic  bath,  where 
the  blackest  criminals  may  plunge  but  for  an  instant  and  come 
forth  white  as  snow. 


CHAPTER    XLIV. 

CONFESSION. IT    IS    NATURAL. DIFFERENT    KINDS    OF    ABSO- 
LUTION.  NECESSITY    AND    UNIVERSALITY    OF    CONFESSION. 

To  the  truly  humble  and  contrite  sinner  confession  appears, 
not  as  a  punishment  inflicted  upon  sin,  but  as  a  natural  and 
necessary,  and  a  divinely  soothing  remedy  for  a  tortured 
conscience. 

*  Concil.  Trent.,  Sess.  xiv.  De  Pcenit.  cap.  iv.  De  Contrit. 


190  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

The  most  painful  and  the  most  burdensome  secret  to  be  kept 
by  a  heart  not  jet  polluted  by  disease,  is  that  of  crime.  The 
soul  which  is  animated  by  a  real  hatred  of  sin,  naturally 
tends  to  separate  herself  from  it,  to  force  it  out,  as  it  were. 

"  The  stomach  which  contains  poison  and  which  throws 
itself  into  a  convulsion  in  order  to  reject  it,  is  the  natural 
image  of  a  heart  into  which  crime  has  poured  its  venom.  It 
suffers,  it  labors,  it  contracts  itself  until  it  reaches  the  ear  of 
friendship,  or  at  least  that  of  benevolence."* 

To  the  desire  of  consoling  itself  by  banishing  the  evil  is 
united,  in  the  penitent  soul  the  need  of  expiating  it.  Now, 
"  the  universal  conscience  recognises  in  spontaneous  confes- 
sion an  expiatory  power  and  a  merit  of  grace :  there  is  but 
one  sentiment  on  this  point  from  the  mother  who  questions 
her  child  concerning  the  breaking  of  a  piece  of  porcelain, 
or  a  sweetmeat  eaten  contrary  to  orders,  to  the  judge  who 
from  his  high  tribunal  interrogates  the  robber  and  the 
assassin. f 

The  shame  inseparable  from  confession,  already  so  much 
diminished  by  the  eternal  silence  divinely  imposed  on  the  only 
confident  who  receives  it,  will  never  check  the  true  penitent 
in  whom  the  fear  and  love  of  God  have  prevailed  over  the 
fear  of  man  and  the  desire  for  an  undeserved  reputation. 
The  most  insupportable  confusion  for  him  is  that  which  he 
endures  in  the  secrecy  of  his  own  conscience,  before  the  pre- 
sence of^Gpd,  who  is  the  unavoidable  witness  of  so  many 
sins.  What  does  it  import  to  him  that  a  feeble  being  and 
sinner  like  himself  should  know  what  he  cannot  conceal  from 

the  eye  of  ^ 'ifiv J tip ,  ^5^" ess  • 

Even  for  the  man  whom  a  sincere  conversion  has  re-esta- 
blished in  the  truth,  there  is  need  of  showing  himself  as  he 
is,  of  accepting  the  contempt  which  he  merits,  of  rejecting 
as  undeserved  the  esteem  which  ignorance  offers  him.     This 
*  De  Maistre,  Du  Pape,  liv.  iii.  ch.  3d.  f  Ibid. 


CONFESSION. 


t\ 


thirst  for  truth  and  justice  which  leads  a  soul,  deeply  moved, 
to  the  public  avowal  of  its  errors,  is  not  rare ;  and  every  ex- 
perienced director  knows  that  if  there  arc  cowardly  penitents 
whose  silence  and  timidity  afflict  the  physician  who  has  taken 
it  upon  himself  to  heal  them,  there  are  others  whose  indiscreet 
fervor  must  be  restrained. 

To  these  natural  predispositions  which  singularly  facilitate 
the  approach  to  the  confessional,  may  be  added  the  pressing 
need  that  every  soul  agitated  by  remorse  feels,  of  hearing  the 
consoling  words :  Go  in  peace,  my  brother,  thy  sins  are  for- 
given thee. 

But,  it  will  be  objected,  what  mortal  can  ever  have  the 
right  to  hold  this  language  to  a  fellow  mortal  ?  The  question 
is  not  a  new  one;*  but  what  means  have  those  who  judge 
the  power  of  remitting  sins  to  be  incommunicable  to  mortals, 
of  pacifying  consciences  convinced  of  their  crimes  and 
uncertain  of  pardon  ?  For  myself,  I  know  but  four  kinds  of 
absolution. 

1st.  The  absolution  which  the  Catholic  priest  gives  to  the 
penitent  sinner  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  to  the  first 
priests :  Whatever  lliou  shall  loose  on  earth,  <$fc. — Receive  of 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  whose  sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  are  forgiven 
them,  <$fc.\ 

2d.  The  absolution  which  the  atheist  gives  himself  in  virtue 
of  this  principle  :  There  is  no  God,  or  it  matters  little  to  me 
if  there  be  one. 

3d.  The  absolution  which  the  multitude  of  unreflective 
minds  administer  to  themselves  in  virtue  of  this  extraordinary 
though  tacit  reasoning :  God  is  good  ;  hence  I  may  insult  him 
ii-ithout  fear. 

4th.  The  absolution  which  the  Lutheran  gives  himself,  or 
rather  the  canonisation  which  he  makes  of  himself,  when  he 

*  Quis  poteat  demittere  peccato  nisi  solus  De'is.  (Mark  ii.  7.) 
t  Matth.  xviii.  IS  ;     John  xx.  23. 


192  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

modestly  says  on  the  faith  of  Luther:  Sinner  that  I  am,  I 
hare  the  ccriainly  of  being  as  holy  in  the  eyes  of  God  as  the 
Aposlles,  Peter  and  Paul. 

Choose  from  among  these  different  modes  of  absolution, 
the  one  which  appears  to  you  most  moral,  most  soothing  for 
the  individual,  most  abounding  in  securities  against  everything 
which  disturbs  families  and  society. 

So  long  as  the  soul  inhabits  a  healthy  body,  and  finds  in 
pleasures  and  business  food  for  its  activity  she  may  say  in  a 
kind  of  good  faith,  that  in  the  conscience  there  is  no  room 
but  for  God  ;  that  the  affairs  of  religion  must  be  transacted 
between  man  and  his  Creator  with  closed  doors;  but  this 
philosophic  assurance  becomes  necessarily  of  diminished 
value  as  soon  as  age,  infirmities  and  cruel  deceptions  oblige 
man  to  fall  back  upon  himself,  as  soon  as  he  feels  the  close 
of  the  drama  of  life  approaching,  and  asks  himself  if  the 
part  he  has  played  will  obtain  for  him  the  praise  or  the  blame 
of  the  Invisible  Spectator. 

Does  he  ask  of  God  in  prayer?     His  questions  will  remain 

1  unanswered.     Those  mortals  are  very  rare  with  whom  God 

^  deigns  to  converse.*    He  always  makes  use  of  an  interpreter, 

and  the  word  which  he  destines  for  Paul,  he  breathes  into  the 

ear  of  Ananias.f 

Nothing  is,  then,  more  natural  or  more  consoling  than  the 
intervention  of  a  third  person,  who,  after  an  exact  examina- 
tion of  the  conscience,  says :  "  Have  confidence,  my  brother  ; 
by  the  knowledge  which  I  have  of  the  divine  goodness  and 
the  dispositions  of  your  soul,  and,  above  all,  by  the  power 
which  I  have  received  from  heaven,  I  am  authorized  to  say  to 
you  that  your  sins  arc  forgiven." 

How  many  of  our  separated  brethren — we  have  it  from 
good  authority — make  the  ministers  of  their  worship  sadly 

*  Ore  enim  ad  es  loq  lor  ci,  &.c.  (Numer.  xii.  8.) 
t  Act.  Apos.  ix. 


CONFESSION.  193 


sensible  of  the  melancholy  inefficacy  of  the  part  they  are 
playing,  when,  at  the  approach  of  death,  they  ask  of  them, 
with  tears,  some  testimony  of  the  divine  forgiveness !  Unfor- 
tunate tools  of  a  fantastic  priesthood,  you  recall  to  my  memory 
the  heart-rending  histo7-y  of  a  child,  who,  deprived  by  ship- 
wreck of  the  breast  which  nourished  him,  cast  himself  in 
agony  upon  a  bust  of  his  mother,  and  expired,  clinging  to  its 
bosom ! 

I  have  thus,  I  think,  brought  to  light  the  germ  of  confession 
deposited  by  the  Creator  in  the  depths  of  the  human  heart, 
until  the  Redeemer  unfolded  it  into  a  great  tree,  which  would 
lend  to  repentant  crime  a  salutary  shelter  from  the  strokes  of 
divine  justice  and  the  devouring  fires  of  despair. 

I  have,  at  the  same  time,  explained  the  very  singular  and 
yet  incontestable  fact  of  the  practice  of  confession  among  all 
the  people  of  Pagan  antiquity,  and  most  of  the  modern  idola- 
trous nations. 

You  who  give  credit  for  the  invention  of  this  painful  prac- 
tice to  those  whom  it  oppresses  the  most,  the  Catholic  priests, 
if  you  were  a  little  less  ignorant,  you  would  know  that  always 
and  everywhere  there  has  been  confession. 

Confession  was  made  to  the  priests  among  most  of  the 
nations  of  Greece  and  Asia.  The  Emperor,  Marcus  Aurelius 
himself,  having  been  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Eleusis, 
was  obliged  to  speak,  for  a  long  time,  into  the  ear  of  the 
hierophant.  Among  the  ancient  Mexicans  and  Peruvians  there 
was  confession.*  The  people  of  Persia,  China,  Thibet,  the 
kingdom  of  Siam,  Ceylon,  and  Hindostan,  &c.,  still  confess.f 

"  On  this  point,  as  on  all  others,  what  has  Christianity 
done?  She  has  revealed  man  to  man;  she  has  taken  pos- 
session of  his  inclinations,  of  his  eternal  and  universal  beliefs, 

*  See  Jlnnales  de  Philosophic  Chretienne,  torn.  xxii.  p.  145. 
t  See  De  Maistre,  as  above  cited.   Recherches  sur  la  Confession  au- 
riculaire,  by  M.  1'Abbe  Guillnis. 
VOL.  II.  17 


194          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

and  placed  under  protection  their  ancient  foundations;  she 
has  cleansed  them  from  every  stain,  from  every  foreign  ad- 
mixture; she  has  honored  them  with  the  divine  impress;  and, 
upon  these  natural  bases,  she  has  established  her  supernatural 
theory  of  penance  and  sacramental  confession.* 

However  pride  may  rebel  against  this  salutary  institution, 
it  will  only  bring  into  stronger  light  this  truth :  Confession, 
by  the  humiliation  which  accompanies  it,  is  the  best  specific 
against  the  first  cause  of  our  errors,^  as  it  is,  by  the  profound 
peace  that  follows  it,  the  most  unequivocal  proof  of  our  re- 
conciliation with  the  supreme  justice,  Peace  being  the  work  of 
justice.^ 


CHAPTER    XLV. 

MOKAL    AND    SOCIAL    INFLUENCE    OF    CONFESSION. ACKNOW- 
LEDGEMENT   OF    UNBELIEVERS. OMNIPOTENCE    OF   THIS 

PRACTICE    IN    THE    MORAL    EDUCATION    OF    MAN. 

CONNECTION    BETWEEN    CONFESSION    AND 
COMMUNION. 

CONFESSION,  had  it  only  the  power  to  soothe  and  pacify 
the  conscience,  by  freeing  it  from  the  poison  of  crime,  would 
still  be  dear  to  virtuous  souls,  and  would  only  offend  hearts 
so  hardened  in  sin  as  to  blunt  the  sting  of  remorse.  But  this 
is  only  one  of  the  many  benefits  we  owe  to  it. 

Its  remarkable  moral  power  has  imposed  silence  on  the 
most  violent  anti-Catholic  prejudices,  and  there  is  but  one 
voice,  even  among  writers  of  the  most  opposite  opinion,  cele- 
brating the  salutary  influence  of  this  practice. 

*  Ibid,  Du  Pape. 

f  Initium  omnis  peccali  est  superbia.  (Eccle.  5.  15.) 

J  Et  erit  opus  justitae,  pax.  (Isa.  xxxii.  17.) 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT    OF    UNBELIEVERS.  19o 

The  Pagan,  Seneca,  has  spoken  of  the  reforming  and  guiding 
power  of  confession,  after  the  manner  of  the  masters  of  the 
spiritual  life;  and  one  cannot  read  his  Epistles  without  in- 
dining  more  and  more  to  the  belief  that  the  preceptor  of  Nero 
had  lent  an  ear  to  St.  Paul,  and  received  a  summons  to  lay 
down  the  pride  of  philosophy  at  the  feet  of  the  minister  of 
Jesus  Christ.* 

From  the  heathen  philosophers  of  the  first  century,  we  pass 
to  the  anti-Christian  sophists  of  the  eighteenth.  Voltaire, 
their  chief,  tells  us,  in  various  parts  of  his  works,  that  "there 
is,  perhaps,  no  wiser  institution,"  ,  .  .  that  (l  confession  is  an 
excellent  thing,  a  restraint  upon  inveterate  crime,  a  very  good 
practice  to  prevent  the  guilty  from  abandoning  themselves  to 
despair,  and  relapsing  into  sin  ;  to  influence  hearts  ulcerated 
by  hatred,  to  forgive,  robbers  to  make  restitution,"  .  .  that 
"  the  enemies  of  the  Romish  Church,  who  have  opposed  so 
beneficial  an  institution,  have  taken  from  man  the  greatest 
restraint  that  can  be  put  upon  crime,"  &c.f 

Rousseau  exclaims  :  How  many  restitutions  and  reparations 
does  confession  procure  among  Catholics  !|  The  madman 
Raynal  attributes  to  this  very  useful  practice,  which  takes  the 
place  of  penal  laws,  and  watches  over  purity  o.f  manners ,  the 
prodigies  of  the  Jesuits  at  Paraguay,  and  he  adds  \  "  The 
best  of  all  governments  would  be  a  theocracy,  in  which  the 
tribunal  of  penance  should  be  established."  §  • 

*  See  Epistles  52,  53  Concerning  the  more  than  probable  relations 
of  Seneca  with  St.  Paul,  who  had  formed,  a.  sn^all  community  of  Saints 
even  in  the  Court  of  Nero.  (Ep.  to.  Philipp.  vi.  23.)  Sep;  J}e  IV^aistre, 
Soirees  de  St.  Petersburg,  Entret.  vii 

t  Diet.  Philosoph.,  art.  Catgcfy.  du  Curt.  Jlnnales  de  r.Emjjire, 
torn.  i.  p.  41,  &c.  &c. 

J  Emile,  torn",  iii.  p.  201. 

§  Histoire  Philosoph.  et  polit.  du  commerce  dot  Indes,  \.om.  iii.  p. 
238.  It  is  (rye  that  he  adds:  If  it  tocre  always  directed  by  virtuous 
men,.  This  is  the  microscopic  spirit  of  the  philosophers  of  the  last 


196  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

But  no  writer  has  more  clearly  shown  the  social  utility  of 
this  practice  than  the  Protestant  author  of  the  Letters  of  At- 
tlcus.  Every  judicious  mind  which  examines  it  as  closely  as 
he,  will  agree  with  the  celebrated  nobleman,  that  auricular 
confession  is  the  only  truly  efficacious  remedy  against  the 
moral  evils  which  torment  the  individual  and  society ;  that  it 
is  the  exclusive  source  of  all  the  virtues  which  constitute  the 
happiness  and  security  of  the  family  and  the  State ;  and  that, 
by  the  moral  power  which  it  exercises  over  the  mind  and 
will,  it  can  take  the  place  of  all  the  laws,  if  the  practice  of  it 
becomes  general ;  whilst  every  system  of  government  which 
is  not  based  on  it,  is  condemned  to  become  only  an  illusion.* 

What  is,  in  fact,  confession,  seen  from  the  most  elevated 
point  of  view  ?  It  is  Christianity  employing  its  whole  moral 
power  for  the  correction  and  perfecting  of  the  individual. 

Those  who  know  what  was  the  condition  of  the  world  at 
the  moment  when  Christianity  commenced,  and  who  have 
followed  its  giant  steps,  from  its  beginning  in  the  upper 
chamber,  to  our  own  time,  will  know  its  wonderful  achieve- 
ments. How  many  intellectual  aberrations  has  it  dispelled, 
from  the  shocking  absurdities  of  idolatry  to  the  seducing 
speculations  of  heresy  and  false  science,  by  opposing  to  them 
the  luminous  simplicity  of  its  doctrine !  How  many  abo- 
minable practices  has  it  abolished  in  the  family,  in  the  temples, 
and  in  the  theatres!  How  much  violence  and  social  injustice 
has  been  repaired  by  the  sanctity  and  sweetness  of  its  mo- 
rality !  How  many  virtues,  how  much  devotion,  how  many 
touching  and  heroic  institutions  its  divine  philanthropy  has 

century  !  They  saw  no  remedy  for  abuses  but  in  the  destruction  of 
institutions  which  elsewhere  they  recognised  as  vastly  wise  and  use- 
ful. Poor  maniacs  who  deliberately  set  fire  to  their  houses  to  free 
themselves  from  cobwebs,  and  who  did  not  comprehend  that  the  most 
disastrous  of  abuses  is  not  to  endure  them  ! 
*  Letter  5th. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT    OF    UNBELIEVERS.          197 

substituted  for  the  fierce  calculations  and  barbarous  inven- 
tions of  Pagan  selfishness ! 

And  these  wonderful  transformations  effected  in  the  masses, 
Christianity  daily  reproduces  in  the  individual  at  the  con- 
fessional. 

Here,  again,  the  ambassador  of  Christ  meets  hearts  in 
which  reigns  an  idol,  not  of  wood  or  metal,  but  animated, 
living,  commanding.  If  this  false  God  is  not  overthrown, 
after  having  received  the  incense  of  guilty  thoughts,  he  will 
demand  victims  and  blood ;  and  the  most  abominable  sacri- 
fices of  antiquity,  human  sacrifices,  will  revive. 

Let  us  suppose  that  Robespierre,  Marat,  and  their  asso- 
ciates, instead  of  blindly  following  the  inspirations  of  their 
pride,  had  consulted  a  confessor  on  the  first  approach  of  this 
familiar  demon,  is  it  not  certain  that  two  or  three  words 
whispered  in  the  ear  would  have  spared  France  many  frightful 
hecatombs ! 

If  we  descend  from  historical  criminals  to  those  of  lo%ver 
conditions,  what  are  they  all?  Infidels,  whom  the  idol  of 
gold,  pleasure,  or  revenge,  has  rendered  sanguinary.  If  docile 
to  the  voice  of  the  Church,  they  had  opened  their  heart  to  the 
eye  of  religion,  at  least  once  a  year,  justice  would  not  be  ob- 
liged to  expiate  in  their  blood  the  blood  of  their  victims. 

Generalize  confession,  and  criminal  tribunals  would  be 
superfluous.  How  many  despisers  of  this  practice  owe  to  it 
the  preservation  of  their  fortune  and  their  lives ! 

Here,  again,  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  approaching 
every  mind  with  the  torch  of  truth,  prevents  and  stifles  in  the 
bud  innumerable  great  and  small  heresies,  dissipates  many 
illusions  of  the  mind  and  heart,  which,  brought  into  being  by 
half  knowledge  and  pride,  would  end  by  turning  many 
brains. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  word  at  a  distance 
and  the  word  in  the  ear ;  between  the  public  word  diffusing 

17* 


198  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

itself  Very  unequally  among  two  or  three  thousand  auditors, 
and  the  special  word  reaching  the  individual  in  all  its  fulness. 
Confession  is  the  religious  light  proceeding  from  its  source 
and  individualizing  itself  in  every  heart.  Take  away  con- 
fession, religious  instruction  loses  its  efficacy,  and,  ceasing  to 
be  the  director  of  individual  opinion,  becomes  its  sport. 

Here,  again,  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  meets  cruel  pa- 
rents, who,  if  they  no  longer  destroy  their  new-born  offspring 
as  formerly,  prevent  their  birth,  or,  at  least,  by  their  mis- 
conduct and  neglect,  prepare  for  them  a  future  of  misery  and 
shame.  How  many  children  are  indebted  to  confession  for 
their  existence,  their  morality,  and  the  ease  which  they 
enjoy ! 

Here,  again,  the  minister  of  Jesus  Christ  finds  himself  in 
the  presence  of  masters,  stern  lords1,  who,  if  left  to  their  na- 
tural inclinations,  would,  in  fact,  soon  re-establish  slavery, 
though  abolished  by  our  laws  and  customs.  Their  heart  must 
be  softened  by  the  breath  of  charity,  if  they  would  not  be  ex- 
cluded from  the  public  banquet,  where  religion  consoles  and 
regales  their  victims. 

It  is  at  the  confessional  that  the  laws  of  justice  and  charity 
receive  that  rigorous  application  which  the  individual  is  in- 
capable of  making,  blinded  as  he  is  by  avarice  and  pride. 
The  wrongs  which  confession  prevents,  checks,  and  repairs, 
are  innumerable ;  the  number  of  thefts,  where  it  returns  to 
the  master  what  belongs  to  him,  and  preserves  to  the  guilty 
the  restraint  of  public  esteem;  the  number  of  law-suits  which 
it  prevents  or  terminates  quietly,  and  without  expense ;  the 
animosities  it  quells,  the  reconciliations  it  effects,  and  the  re- 
venge that  it  changes  to  kindness,  escape  all  calculation. 

It  is  at  the  confessional  that  religion  teaches  Statesmen 
that  to  govern  a  nation  is  not  to  devour  it*  Whatever  may 

*  Among  most  Asiatic  nations,  the  language,  the  faithful  expression 
of  the  habits,  has  made  devour  synonymous  with  reign ;  "  To  reign, 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT    OF    UNBELIEVERS.          199 

be  said  to  the  contrary,  happy  are  the  people  whose  governors 
confess!*  They  will  be  governed  by  their  confessor,  it  may 
be  said.  Even  if  it  were  so,  is  not  the  influence  of  a  man 
who  is  under  a  religious  obligation  to  speak  to  princes  and 
ministers  the  language  of  the  Gospel,  far  better  than  to  be  at 
the  mercy  of  mistresses  and  courtiers  exclusively  occupied,  as 
they  are,  with  moulding  and  turning  to  their  own  advantage 
the  passions  of  their  master  ?  But  this  is  not  all ;  every  prince 
who  does  not  make  a  sport  of  confession,  must  reflect  ser- 
iously on  his  duties  before  presenting  himself  there,  and  he 
cannot  long  be  ignorant  that  his  first  obligation  is  to  be  and 
to  remain  what  God  has  made  him,  a  king.  If  Henry  VIII, 
had  continued  to  confess,  and  had  bequeathed  this  practice  to 
his  successors,  would  the  English  have  been  sufferers  on  that 
account !  If  Napoleon,  instead  of  awaiting  the  forced  tran- 
quillity of  exile  to  set  his  conscience  in  order,  had  employed 
some  hours  every  year,  at  Easter,  in  making  an  exact  review 
of  his  conduct,  and  consulting  the  law  of  God  on  its  moral 
and  even  political  bearing,  he,  undoubtedly,  would  have  died 

in  Siamese,  says  a  learned  missionary,  is  translated  by  Savenirat,  which 
signifies  to  eat  the  people.  It  is  not  said  of  such  a  mandarin  that  he 
is  governor  of  a  certain  city,  but  it  is  said;  he  eats  such  a  city ;  and 
often  with  more  truth  than  would  be  believed."  (Letter  of  Mgr. 
Bruguiere,  Bishop  of  Capse,  Annale,s  de  la  Propag.  torn.  v.  p.  172.) 
The  revolution  of  '93,  which  led  immediately  to  barbarism,  also  intro- 
duced many  synonymes  of  this  kind. 

t  M.  Dupin  said  not  long  since  to  the  Chamber,  (March  19,  1844,) 
"  Let  us  remind  the  clergy  that  we  are  all  under  a  government  where 
there  is  no  confession  ! "  Alas  !  M.  Dupin,  is  not  the  fact  evident  from 
the  constant  increase  of  our  expenditures,  and  the  constantly  descend- 
ing progress  of  our  affairs !  To  remind  our  clergy  of  the  neglect  of 
religion  by  our  governors  does  no  great  harm  ;  but  to  proclaim  it  aloud 
in  the  ear  of  the  people,  is  imprudence.  A  master,  however  undevout 
he  may  be,  likes  to  see  those  in  his  employ  going  from  time  to  time  to 
confession.  If  he  finds  they  neglect  it,  he  distrusts  them,  and  begins 
to  think  of  their  removal. 


200  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

on  the  throne,  and  his  glory,  still  greater  than  it  now  is,  and 
above  all  power,  would  have  eclipsed  all  other  glory. 

It  is,  moreover,  at  the  confessional  that  the  eye  and  the 
hand  of  religion,  penetrating  into  the  deepest  recesses  of  the 
heart,  roots  out  its  vices  and  its  faults,  plants  and  develops  in 
it  the  virtues,  and  raises  them,  by  wise  and  assiduous  culture, 
even  to  heroism. 

Ask  the  angels  in  human  form,  who  devote  themselves,  in 
our  hospitals,  to  the  service  of  the  unfortunate,  what  attaches 
them  to  offices  so  revolting  to  our  nature ;  they  will  tell  you 
it  is  confession  and  frequent  communion.  The  one  offers 
celestial  light  to  the  mind,  long  subjected  to  the  dazzling 
sophisms  of  selfishness;  the  other  nourishes  the  heart  with 
the  bread  of  angels,  which,  without  it,  would  become  lifeless, 
and  return  to  the  leeks  of  Egypt. 

Confession  and  Communion  are  the  two  royal  gates  by 
which  Christianity  penetrates  into  the  internal  man,  wipes 
away  its  numerous  stains,  heals  all  its  diseases,  changes  it  to 
a  delicious  garden,  where  Christ  refreshes  himself,  and  from 
•which  virtue  breathes  forth  its  fragrance  far  and  wide. 

Close  one  of  these  doors,  and  the  other  will  close  too. 
Confession  is  exact,  sincere,  and  will  produce  the  fruits  of 
justice,  only  in  proportion  as  it  is  the  effect  of  faith  in  the 
real  reception  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist.  The  com- 
munion, without  the  preliminary  of  confession,  would  be 
abandoned  by  timid  virtue,  or  would  be  unworthily  frequented 
by  presumptuous  pride. 

This  double  gate  once  walled  up,  however  inventive  Chris- 
tianity may  become  externally,  in  multiplying  festivals,  dis- 
playing the  eloquence  of  its  Chrysostoms,  thundering  forth  the 
shouts  of  its  Pergoleses  and  its  Palestrinas ;  man,  from  the 
high  ramparts  of  his  pride,  will  sometimes  deign  to  take  part  in 
the  sport  of  the  player,  will  bestow  upon  him  some  praises, 
and  perhaps  a  few  pieces  of  gold  ;  but  he  will  remain  himself. 


DIVINITY    OF    CONFESSION.  201 

Such  is  the  melancholy  position  of  religion  where  there  is 
no  confession.  She  is  hardly  tolerated  in  the  temples;  and 
Paganism,  refined  by  Christian  civilization,  rules  all  hearts. 


CHAPTER    XLVI. 

DIVINITY    OF    CONFESSION. ABSURDITY    OF   THE    CONTRARY 

OPINION. OBJECTION   THAT   IT    DEGRADES    MAN. 

RESULTS    OF    ITS   ABOLITION. 

LET  me  now  be  permitted  to  address  the  following  ques- 
tion to  those  who  have  examined  the  preceding  considerations. 
Do  you  really  believe  than  an  institution  so  exclusively  effi- 
cacious as  confession,  and  which  can  never  be  replaced  by 
any  other,  could  have  escaped  the  divine  eye  of  the  Author 
of  Christianity,  and  have  been  neglected  by  his  will,  so  power- 
ful to  liberate  man  from  himself,  in  order  to  lead  him  to  aspire 
to  the  possession  of  God,  and  confer  happiness  on  his  fellow- 
beings  ? 

If  the  precept  of  confession  had  not  so  evidently  originated 
from  the  power  given  by  Jesus  Christ  to  his  ministers  to  loose 
and  to  bind,  to  grant  and  withhold  the  remission  of  sins,  ac- 
cording to  the  exigencies  of  the  case,*  if  the  practice  of  con- 
fession had  not  been  established,  even  in  the  infancy  of  Chris- 
tianity ,j-  if  all  Christian  antiquity  did  not  present  so  compact 
a  body  of  testimony  in  favor  of  the  perpetuity  and  univer- 
sality of  this  practice,  everything  would  lead  us  to  believe 
it  to  be  a  divine  institution. 

The  fact,  alone,  of  its  immemorial  usage  in  the  Catholic 
Church  and  in  the  schismatic  churches  of  the  East,  does  not 

*  Matth.  xviii.  18.     John  xx.  23. 

f  Matlh.  iii.  6.     Act.  Ap.  xix.  18.     James  v.  16.     I.  John  i.  Q 


202  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

permit  the  least  doubt  on  this  subject.  Who  but  the  God- 
Man  could  have  induced  human  pride  to  accept  a  remedy  so 
repugnant  to  it  ! 

I  shall  immediately  be  answered  :  The  priests  have  invented 
confession!  The  difficulty  is  not  at  all  in  the  invention,  but 
in  the  adoption  by  the  Christian  world  of  a  practice  so  hu- 


Let  us  exaggerate,  as  much  as  we  will,  the  ignorance  and 
barbarism  of  the  middle  ages.  The  men  of  that  period  were 
generally  less  learned  than  we  ;  but,  as  to  points  of  Christian 
doctrine,  they  knew  as  much  of  them,  and  incontrovertibly 
adhered  to  them  more  tenaciously.  If,  at  an  epoch  when 
even  the  words  confession  and  confessional  were  unknown,  a 
foolish  fellow  should  have  taken  it  into  his  head  to  ascend 
the  pulpit  and  say:  By  order  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  church, 
confess  to  the  priests  all  your  sins,  even  the  most  secret,  if  you 
wish  to  obtain  pardon,  he  would  have  been  received  with 
shouts  of  laughter,  and,  in  case  of  resistance,  would  have  been 
led  to  the  stake,  the  method  established  at  that  time  for  re- 
futing obstinate  innovators. 

It  is,  certainly,  an  amusing  absurdity,  that  three  hundred 
thousand  bishops,  priests,  abbes,  and  monks,  should  conspire, 
and,  some  fine  day,  intimating  to  the  world  the  obligation 
hitherto  unheard  of  to  confess,  should  establish  confessionals 
everywhere,  and  confine  themselves  to  them  for  half  their  life, 
with  no  other  personal  advantage  than  the  hatred  which  ac- 
crues to  them  from  so  painful  and  repulsive  an  office.*  But 
to  imagine  that  two  hundred  millions,  at  least,  of  Christians 
had  graciously  yielded  to  such  an  imposition,  and  that  no  one 

*  Every  one  can  see,  and  the  priests  above  all,  must  know,  that  it  is 
neither  by  their  homilies  in  the  pulpit,  nor  by  their  chants  before  the 
altar,  nor  by  their  charitable  care  of  the  sick  and  the  unfortunate,  that 
the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  accomplish  daily  these  prophetic  words: 
Eritis  odio  omnibus  propter  nomen  meum.  (Matth.  x.  22.) 


DIVINITY    OF    CONFESSION.  203 

appealed,  in  aid  of  his  deeply  wounded  pride,  to  the  very 
legitimate  zeal  for  the  ancient  religion  of  his  fathers,  is  an 
extravagance  which  surpasses  all  bounds,  and  will  only  excite 
the  pity  of  any  one  who  has  not.  received  his  soul  in  vain. 

The  enemies  of  confession  should  remember  that  there  have 
been  before  them  men,  also  endowed  with  common  sense, 
and  whose  passions  were  no  less  rebellious  than  ours.  The 
repugnance  which  this  practice  meets  with  in  men  of  the 
nineteenth  century  it  encountered  from  the  men  of  the  middle 
age,  and  probably  still  stronger.  Certainly,  those  fierce  chil- 
dren of  the  North  who  had  triumphed  over  the  legions  of 
Rome,  and  seen  at  their  feet  the  masters  of  the  world,  had 
not  such  pliant  joints!  But  miscreant  pride  still  repeats:  I 
clearly  see,  myself;  what  have  I  to  do  with  the  convictions 
of  the  old  world,  an  abject  troop  of  feeble  persons,  led  at  will 
by  the  priests ! 

As  to  the  objection  made  to  confession,  that  it  degrades 
man  too  much  by  dragging  him  to  the  feet  of  his  fellow-man,* 
in  addition  to  the  derision  passed  on  it  by  the  fact  of  a  divine 
institution,  every  man  of  sense  will  consider  it  unfounded ; 
he  will  find  in  the  dealings  of  God  towards  the  miserable 
transgressors  of  his  laws  a  delicacy,  a  reverence  for  their 
reputation,^  which  the  most  merciful  sovereign  never  mani- 
fested towards  the  infringers  of  human  law. 

*  "  Catholicity  forces  men  into  a  very  puerile  practice,  and  does 
not  sufficiently  respect  human  dignity,  when  it  leads  man  to  the  feet 
of  man,  to  that  tribunal  which  it  names  its  tribunal  of  penance." 
(Des  Beaux — Arts  et  da  la  langue  des  signes  dans  les  fglises  chr6- 
tiennes  r£form6ts,  by  M.  C.  A.  Muller,  Paris,  1S41.)  It  is  unpleasant 
to  meet  such  words  in  a  work  full  of  excellent  things,  and  written  with 
a  fairness  and  impartiality  unfortunately  very  rare  among  Protestant 
ministers,  when  treating  of  the  subject  of  Catholic  worship.  The 
estimable  author  should  know  that  the  Catholic  Church  invites  to  con- 
fession, but  never  forces  any  one.  As  to  the  puerility  of  this  practice, 
1  would  refer  my  readers  to  the  two  preceding  chapters. 

t  Cum  inagna  reverentia  disponis  nos.  (Sap.  xn.  18.) 


204  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

What  legislature  has  ever  said  to  criminals :  Choose  from 
among  my  ministers  him  who  inspires  you  with  the  most  con- 
fidence ;  confess  to  him  all  your  crimes ;  you  will  preserve 
your  honor,  your  property,  your  liberty,  your  life,  and  death 
awaits  your  confidant  alone,  if  he  betrays  your  secret!  God 
has  done  this;  and  yet  man  complains!  Pascal  saw  in  these 
absurd  objections  a  strong  proof  of  our  original  perversity.* 

Man  is  degraded  when  he  destroj's  his  reason  by  the  vio- 
lation of  the  moral  law.  He  elevates  himself,  on  the  con- 
trary, when  he  voluntarily  acknowledges  his  errors  to  his 
chosen  confidant  and  applies  to  him  for  the  means  of  living 
as  man  should  live. 

What,  then,  can  be  more  ridiculous  than  this  reproach  of 
the  forgetfulness  of  human  dignity,  brought  by  a  handful  of 
men  against  the  whole  Catholic  world!  Subtract  from  the 
catalogue  of  human  examples  all  those  who  have  violated 
honor  by  confessing  at  least  on  their  death-bed,  what  will 
remain  but  the  kingdoms  of  empty  space  ! 

From  a  multitude  of  names  which  form  the  most  brilliant 
constellations  of  history,  I  shall  quote  only  three,  that  were 
so  brilliant  as  to  eclipse  their  age,  Charlemagne,  Louis  XIV., 
Napoleon.  All  three  had  to  a  high  degree,  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  personal  dignity ;  yet,  all  three  confessed ;  and 
it  is  well  known  that,  with  the  last,  this  act  of  religions  sub- 
mission was  neither  the  influence  of  habit,  nor  caused  by  the 
solicitation  of  those  around  him,  but  from  a  deep  conviction. j- 
Irreligion,  it  is  true,  terms  it  the  last  abdication,  of  the  great 
man  ;  J  but  it  is  just  to  observe  that  it  was  more  voluntary 

*  Penstrs,  Art.  v.  §  8. 

t  In  the  Vie  de  Napoleon,  by  M.  Michaud,  may  be  seen,  (Biograph. 
Univ.  torn.  Ixv,)  the  obstacles  and  the  ridicule  which  the  illustrious 
captive  had  to  overrule  from  his  mean  jailors  and  even  from  one  of  his 
companions  in  exile,  in  order  to  fulfil  his  religious  duties. 

$  This  striking  absurdity  belongs,  if  my  memory  does  not  deceive 
me,  to  the  soporific  Histoiie  de  Napoleon,  by  M.  Navins. 


DIVINITY    OF    CONFESSION.  205 


than  that  of  Fontainbleau  and  that  it  caused  him  less  regret ; 
for  the  following  words  were  uttered  by  the  great  abdicalor 
himself  to  the  noble  attendant  on  his  misfortunes : 

"  General,  I  am  happy,  I  have  fulfilled  all  my  duties ;  I 
wish  you,  at  your  death,  the  same  happiness.  I  felt  the  need 
of  it,  you  perceive :  I  am  an  Italian,  a  Corsican  schoolboy. 
The  sound  of  the  bells  moves  me  ;  the  sight  of  a  priest  gives 
me  pleasure.  I  intended  to  keep  all  this  a  secret ;  but  it  must 
not  be ;  I  ought,  and  I  wish  to  give  glory  to  God."* 

Among  his  brave  soldiers  without  fear  and  without  reproach, 
who,  like  him,  had  escaped  the  fire  of  the  battlefield,  how 
many  have  wished  thus  to  give  glory  to  God  ! 

To  fear  God  and  ridicule  those  who  despise  him  is  courage 
and  wisdom.  To  brave  God  and  our  conscience  for  fear  of 
displeasing  some  bipeds  who  do  not  see  the  one,  and  do  not 
feel  the  other,  is  the  lowest  degree  of  cowardice  and  folly. 

Let  us  observe,  finally,  that  if  Reformers  have  cast  a  blight 
upon  religion,  by  depriving  it,  with  confession,  of  the  regulator 
of  the  mind  and  heart,  they  at  least  have  had  the  frankness 
to  deplore  this  fault  and  to  seek  to  repair  it. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  first  Reformers  made  various 
efforts  to  save  this  precious  institution  from  the  general 
shipwreck. 

Luther,  in  a  singular  manner,  adhered  to  what  he  called 
the  only  remedy  for  afflicted  souls  ;  f  and  Melancthon,  in  pre- 
paring the  Augsburg  Confession  places  auricular  confession 
among  the  sacraments  adopted  by  the  new  Church.  Calvin 
recognised  its  utility,  and  there  was  a  time  when  his  disciples 
in  France  taught  its  necessity.  J  The  Anglican  Liturgy  pre- 
served it  for  the  consolation  of  the  sick. 

But  the  Divine  seal  once  effaced,  there  was  little  gained  by 

*  Words  of  Napoleon  to  M.  Montholon,  in  the  Biography  quoted  above, 
t  Little  Catechism. — Concerning  BabyJ.  Captiv.  x. 
\  Nouveaut&  du  Papismc,  by  the  minister  Dumonlin,  liv.  vii.  ch.  1 
VOL.    II.  18 


206          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

boasting  to  the  people  of  the  excellence  of  this  restraint  to 
aid  them  in  controlling  their  passions,  they  threw  it  far  from 
them,  and  celebrated  their  deliverance  by  such  a  horrible 
relaxation  of  habits,  that  the  end  of  the  world  seemed  at 
hand.* 

The  inhabitants  of  Nuremburg  in  alarm  sent  an  embassy 
to  Charles  V.  to  obtain  from  him  an  edict  re-establishing  con- 
fession. The  Swedish  Church  solicited  that  measures  should 
be  taken  against  the  libertinism  which  was  let  loose  by  the 
absence  of  confession,  libertinism  so  frightful,  they  exclaimed, 
that  there  is  no  one  who  does  not  believe  himself  at  liberty  to 
satisfy  his  passions.  Tlie  horses  are  running  away  with  the 
coachman,  according  to  the  proverb,  and  the  reins  no  longer 
guide  the  chariot.^  The  ministers  of  Strasburg  in  1670,  also 
vainly  implored  the  magistrates  of  the  city  to  declare  confes- 
sion obligatory.J 

Last  of  all,  the  same  demand  was  addressed  to  Frederic 
William  III.  by  one  of  his  counsellors.  I  can  recommend 
nothing  more  important  to  your  Majesty  than  confession. 
The  Church  possesses  no  more  effectual  instrument  to  pre- 
serve Christians  in  the  fear  of  God.§ 

What  does  all  this  prove?  That  men  might  have  spoken 
and  written  for  twenty  centuries  the  finest  sentiments  con- 
cerning the  necessity  of  confession,  and  not  have  been  able 
to  induce  even  one  individual  to  go  any  farther,  if  a  divine 
voice  had  not  said :  Confess ! 

*  Mlmoires  of  Luther,  book  v.  ch.  vii. 

t  See  Guide  du  Catich.  Vaudois,  torn.  iii.  p.  435. 

I  Ibid. — Scheffmacher,  Letter  v. 

§   Gazelle  (oangtlique  de  Berlin,  1829.  n.  81. 


SACRAMENT    OF    ORDINATION.  207 


CHAPTER    XLVII. 

SACRAMENT    OF    ORDINATION. CELIBACY. ITS    INTIMATE 

CONNECTION   WITH    THE    PRIESTHOOD. 

EVERYTHING  is  connected  in  the  Catholic  system.  If  the 
Eucharist  requires  penance,  both  demand  the  Sacrament  of 
Ordination. 

Is  it  not  evident  that  the  unction  of  divine  grace  must  flow 
in  large  waves  over  the  feeble  mortal  who  has  the  awful 
power  of  bringing  down  upon  the  altar  the  Holy  One,  offer- 
ing him  as  the  victim  of  propitiation  in  the  name  of  the 
human  race,  receiving  him  into  his  heart,  and  distributing  him 
to  those  present!  Must  not  that  man  be  impressed  with  the 
divine  seal,  who  has  the  right  to  penetrate  into  the  con- 
science, and  the  power  to  transform  this  polluted  den  of  all 
the  vices  into  a  sanctuary  worthy  of  the  Divinity! 

In  religious  societies  of  human  formation,  men  assemble  and 
say  to  one  of  their  number:  "Be  the  minister  of  our  wor- 
ship ;"  and  that  is  ordination.  The  same  act  which  qualifies 
the  person  elected  to  receive  the  emolument  of  minister,  con- 
fers upon  him  the  right  to  exercise  his  functions.  What  more 
is  necessary  to  a  man  than  a  human  choice  in  order  to  govern 
a  human  institution  ? 

In  a  divine  religion,  human  election  is  not  sufficient.  How 
could  men  confer  on  a  man  the  right  to  conduct  the  af- 
fairs of  God,  and  dispense  his  gifts!  Can  the  master  of 
heaven  and  earth  be  proscribed  or  held  in  tutelage  ! 

It  is  evident  that  no  man  can  take  ilie  honor  to  himself,  but 
he  ihat  is  called  by  God  as  Aaron  was ;  so  also  Christ  did 
not  glorify  himself  to  be  made  a  High  Priest,  but  he  himself 


208  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

that  said  to  him :  Thou  art  my  Son,  and  in  creating  thee  from 
my  own  substance,  I  have  made  thee  my  equal  in  power.* 

That  the  Pontiff  of  the  Church,  before  communicating  to 
the  candidates  of  the  sanctuary  a  power  formidable  to  the 
angels,  turns  towards  the  religious  assembly,  and  asks  of  it 
if  it  judges  them  worthy  of  such  a  charge,  and  if  it  has  no 
objection  to  offer  against  them ;  that  the  people  and  their 
magistrates  united  to  the  clergy  have  preserved  the  custom 
of  electing  and  presenting  these  subjects,  is  a  preliminary, 
but  does  not  constitute  the  priest.  The  elected  of  men  cannot 
become  the  Man  of  God,  except  Christ  says  to  him  by  the 
mouth  of  a  successor  of  the  Apostles:  I  send  you  as  my 
Father  has  sent  me  :  Go,  teach,  baptize  !  Do  this  in  memory 
of  me  ;  Forgive  or  retain  sin,  <$fc. !  \ 

Take  from  the  ministry  of  religion  its  divine  investiture, 
and  it  is  only  a  miserable  deception ;  its  functions  are  only 
a  sacrilegious  and  absurd  mockery.  What  would  be  thought 
of  the  individual  who  should  announce  himself  as  minister 
of  state  without  the  sanction  of  the  sovereign  ?  How  would 
his  acts  be  substantiated  ! 

I  will  say  nothing  of  the  rite  by  which  the  Catholic 
Church  consecrates  her  ministers.  I  pass  on  to  the  obliga- 
tion she  imposes  on  them  to  live  in  celibacy.  Is  this  obliga- 
tion in  harmony  with  the  duties  of  the  priesthood  ?  Is  there 
nothing  in  it  prejudicial  to  society  ? 

The  world  has  decided  the  first  question  in  favor  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  Even  when  the  priest  ascended  the  altar 
only  to  offer  upon  it  the  smoke  of  incense  and  the  flesh  of 
bulls,  the  universal  conscience  imposed  continence  upon  him. 

*.  Nee  quisquam  sumit  sibi  honorem,  sed  qui  vocatur  a  Deo  tanquam 
Aaron.  Sic  et  Christus  non  semetipsum  clarificavit  ut  pontifex  fieret  ; 
sed  qui  locutus  est  ad  eum :  Filius  meus  es  tu,  ego  hodie  gen-ai  te. 
(Hebr.  v.  4.  5.) 

f  Tu  autem,  6  Homo  Dei.  (I.  Tim.  vi.  11.) 


SACRAMENT    OF    ORDINATION.  209 

The  incompatibility  of  the  priestly  office  willi  intercourse  with 
women,  even  in  the  legitimate  relation  of  marriage,  is  an  opin- 
ion common  to  men  of  all  times,  of  all  places,  and  of  all  reli- 
gions, as  the  distinguished  author  of  the  immortal  book  Du 
Pape  has  demonstrated,  with  rare  erudition.* 

How  strange !  that  after  Christianity  has  elevated  the  priest 
to  the  incomprehensible  dignity  of  the  coadjutor  of  God  in 
the  redemption  of  the  world,]-  that  the  question  has  been  pro- 
posed, if  it  would  not  be  suitable  that  he  should  take  a  wife ! 

If  silence  is  imposed  on  the  men  whose  incompetency  is 
manifest,  I  mean  on  bad  priests  and  the  systematic  enemies 
of  every  priesthood,  it  will  be  found  that  Christian  nations 
absolutely  unite  in  opinion  on  this  subject  with  the  rest  of  the 
world.  Protestantism  itself,  the  born  enemy  of  religious 
celibacy,  in  its  quality  of  offspring  of  married  monks  and 
priests,  has  only  confirmed  the  universal  opinion  by  the  pro- 
found contempt  with  which  it  overwhelms  reverend  husbands, 
and  the  insult  it  attaches  to  the  epithet  son  of  a  priest!^ 

I  do  not  wish  to  repeat  here  what  I  have  elsewhere  said  of 
the  invincible  repulsion  which  exists  between  the  idea  of  the 
priest  and  the  idea  of  the  husband,  between  the  duties  of  a 
father  according  to  the  spirit  and  a  father  according  to  the 
flesh.  Let  the  conscientious  man  reflect  and  weigh  the  fol- 
lowing questions. 

Is  it  right  that  the  mortal  whom  Jesus  Christ  has  called 
to  become  the  light  of  the  world,  the  salt  of  the  earth,  and 
whom  he  has  elevated  above  the  angels,  by  associating  him 
with  the  infinite  grandeur  of  his  priesthood,  should  be  drawn 
into  the  routine  of  common  life ! 

Could  we  see,  without  a  shudder,  the  hand  which  received 
by  holy  unction  the  power  to  consecrate  and  dispense  the 

*  Du  Pape,  liv.  iii.  ch.  3. 

t  Dei  enim  adjutores  sumus.  (I.  Cor.  iii.  9-) 

J  Du  Pape,  loc.  cit 

18* 


210  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

body  of  the  Son  of  the  Virgin,  clasping  the  hand  of  a  woman 
before  the  altar? 

Can  he  to  whom  the  eternal  priest  has  said :  Go,  teach  all 
nations  under  the  sun,  bind  himself  to  one  spot  by  the  various 
ties  of  family  ? 

Is  the  spiritual  head  of  four  or  five  hundred  families,  whcr 
is  obliged  to  share  his  bread  with  those  who  have  none,  to 
guide  all  ages,  frdm  the  earliest  infancy  to  extreme  old  age, 
in  the  arduous  path  of  salvation,  and  to  diffuse,  among  count- 
less numbers  of  the  spiritually  diseased,  the  very  delicate  care 
that  the  divine  art  of  healing  souls  demands — can  he  take 
upon  himself  the  solicitudes  of  married  life? 

Finally,  who  would  consent  to  make  him  the  possessor  of 
his  secrets,  who  has  made  a  wife  the  possessor  of  his  own  1  * 

Let  us  listen  to  the  eloquent  thinker  above  quoted.  "  That 
wonderful  power  which  checked  Theodoslus  at  the  gate  of 
the  temple,  Attala  before  that  of  Rome,  and  Lewis  XIV. 
before  the  altar;  that  still  more  wonderful  power,  which  can 
soften,  confound,  and  restore  to  life ;  which  enters  the  palace 
to  extort  gold  from  the  unfeeling  or  thoughtless  man  of 
wealth,  in  order  to  pour  it  into  the  lap  of  poverty ;  which 
confronts  everything,  and  overrules  everything,  as  soon  as  a 
soul  is  to  be  soothed,  enlightened,  or  saved ;  which  insinuates 

*  "  In  countries  where  the  marriage  of  priests  is  customary,  confee- 
sion,  the  most  beautiful  of  moral  institutions,  has,  and  must  necessarily 
have  ceased  at  once.  It  is  natural  that  persons  should  not  put  him  in 
possession  of  their  secrets  who  has  put  a  wife  in  possession  of  his  own  ; 
there  is  a  reasonable  fear  of  trusting  to  a  priest  who  has  violated  his 
contract  of  fidelity  with  God,  and  repudiated  the  Creator  to  wed  the 
creature."  (Chateaubriand,  Ginie  du  Chretien,  liv.  i.  ch.  8.)  De 
Maistre,  in  the  work  above  quoted,  has  completely  answered  those  who 
would  produce  the  example  of  the  schismatic  churches  of  Greece  and 
Russia,  where  confession  has  survived  celibacy.  The  able  author  of 
I'Hcrmite  en  Russie,  has  shown  in  his  true  or  factitious  history  of  Var- 
inka,  one  of  the  many  dangers  that  confession  incurs  in  the  priest  who 
is  half  a  woman,  ch.  48. 


SACRAMENT    OF    ORDIXATIOX.  211 

itself  gently  into  the  conscience,  to  obtain  from  it  its  dreadful 
secrets,  and  to  root  out  vice;  the  indefatigable  organ  and 
guardian  of  sacred  unions,  the  no  less  active  enemy  of  all 
license ;  wild  without  weakness,  terrible,  yet  loving ;  the  in- 
valuable support  of  reason,  probity,  honor,  and  all  human 
strength,  at  the  moment  when  they  declare  themselves  power- 
less ;  a  precious  and  inexhaustible  source  of  reconciliations, 
reparations,  restitutions,  and  effectual  repentance,  of  all  that 
God  loves  most  next  to  innocence ;  standing  by  the  cradle  of 
man  with  a  benediction,  still  standing  by  his  death-bed,  and 
saying  to  him,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  pathetic  exhortations 
and  the  tenderest  adieus :  Depart, ;  this  supernatural  power  is 
not  found  "in  the  country  where  the  priest  takes  a  wife." 
There  the  priesthood  is  powerless,  and  trembles  before  those 
whom  it  should  cause  to  tremble.  It  dares  not,  it  cannot  say 
to  him  who  acknowledges  he  has  robbed :  Restore.  The  vilest 
man  is  bound  to  him  by  no  promise.  The  priest  is  employed 
like  a  machine.  It  might  be  said  that  his  words  are  a  kind 
of  mechanical  operation  which  effaces  sin,  as  the  soap  effaces 
material  stains."  * 

Let  us  consult  history,  and  ask  what  would  have  become 
of  Christianity  in  the  hands  of  a  clergy  rendered  stationary 
by  matrimony.  Neither  the  sword  of  the  Cesars,  nor  the  pen 
of  a  Celsus  nor  a  Julian,  would  have  been  needed  to  stifle  it 
in  its  cradle ;  the  prisons  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  the  officers 
of  the  high-priest  Caiphas  would  have  sufficed.  At  the  first 
tempest  which  arose  against  them,  the  ambassadors  of  Christ 
would  hav-e  forgotten  their  mission  to  attend  to  their  wives 
and  children. 

Protestant  ministers  are  seen  every  day  traversing  the  seas, 
accompanied  by  their  wives  and  children,  and  going  to  esta- 
blish themselves  in  the  English  possessions  of  India  and  Poly- 
nesia,  with  the  certainty  of  finding  there  a  lordly  mansion, 

i 

*  Du  Pape,  liv.  iii.  ch.  3.  §  ii. 


212  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

and  the  means  of  making  a  sudden  fortune ;  but  we  never  see 
them,  and  we  shall  never  see  them,  going  to  plant  the  cross 
or  the  Bible  in  China,  Corea,  or  Japan,  at  the  evident  risk  of 
soon  expiring  in  frightful  tortures. 

A  married  clergy  must  necessarily  be  separated  from  the 
queen  of  virtues,  and  the  mother  of  great  self-devotion,  charity, 
from  profound  study,  and  all  that  wins  favor  from  God  and 
man.  It  will  neither  aspire  to  the  martyr's  crown,  nor  the 
sceptre  of  science,  nor  the  triumphs  of  benevolence  over 
every  variety  of  misery.  Vainly  should  we  demand  from  it 
an  Ambrose,  an  Augustine,  a  Chrysostom,  a  Leo,  a  Gregory, 
a  Bossuet,  a  Fenelon,  a  Bourdaloue,  a  Mabillon,  a  Francis 
Xavier,  a  Francis  de  Sales,  a  Vincent  de  Paul,  a  John-of-God, 
a  John  Baptiste  de  la  Salle,  &c. ;  it  will  supply  only  what  is 
to  be  found  everywhere — hirelings. 

In  presence  of  the  admirable  moral  effects  of  religious  celi- 
bacy, and  the  universal  veneration  which  it  inspires,  of  what 
importance  is  the  favorite  argument  of  the  host  of  Epicureans 
of  all  ages,  from  Vigilantius  to  Luther,  and  from  Luther  to 
the  libertines  of  our  day,  who  repeat  their  disgraceful  homilies 
upon  the  necessity  of  obeying  nature,  and  the  danger  of  doing 
violence  to  it?  How  shall  we  answer  men  who  do  not  fear 
to  charge,  with  a  horrible  hypocrisy,  the  innumerable  imita- 
tors of  the  virginity  of  Christ,  whom  Christian  history  presents 
to  our  veneration,  and  who,  while  they  refuse  to  believe  in 
the  possibility  of  virtue,  prove  that  they  have  reached  the 
lowest  limits  of  brutality  ?  We  will  answer  them  in  words 
which  they  have  doubtless  read  in  one  of  their  own  books, 
which  we  hardly  venture  to  name  (La  nouvelle  Heloise),  that 
ihis  necessity  is  imaginary,  and  only  acknowledged  by  persons 
of  bad  life:  that  all  these  pretended  wants  have  not  their 
origin  in  mature,  but  in  the  voluntary  degradation  of  the  senses. 

Let  us  proceed  to  the  political  point  of  view. 


POSITION    OF    THE    PRIEST    IN    SOCIETY.         213 


CHAPTER    XLVIII. 

SOCIAL    IMPORTANCE    OF   RELIGIOUS   CELIBACY. POSITION   OF 

THE    PRIEST    IN    SOCIETY. NULLITY    AND    INCONVENIENCE 

OF   A    MARRIED    PRIESTHOOD. 

WE  are  far  removed  from  those  times  when  the  great  poli- 
ticians of  the  Encyclopedia  feared  the  approaching  end  of  the 
human  race,  if  priests  did  not  take  wives,  and  nuns  husbands. 
The  nineteenth  century  is  not  sufficiently  profound  to  imagine 
what  tenor  lies  in  that  oracle  of  Rousseau :  Celibacy  is  so 
injurious  to  the  human  race,  that  it  would  perish  if  it  were 
every  where  practised.* 

The  Catholic  clergy  cannot  be  reproached  with  discou- 
raging marriage.  They  might  rather  be  accused  of  increasing 
pauperism  by  their  alleged  blind  encouragement  of  it.  A 
writer  filled  with  the  narrow  prejudices  of  the  last  century 
has  recently  done  this.f 

All  modern  political  economists,  with  Malthus  at  their  head, 
agree  in  declaring  that  society  is  threatened  with  terrible 
catastrophies,  if  that  unknown  force  is  not  checked,  which  is 
constantly  swelling  population  beyond  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence. 

Some  persons  would  counsel  governments  to  place  a  formal 
interdict  on  the  marriage  of  the  poor  ;|  others,  which  nearly 
amounts  to  the  same  thing,  would  not  hesitate  to  forbid  mar- 
riage to  the  laborer  who  did  not  hold  ten  acres  of  property, 
or  rent  twenty  acres.  § 

*  Lettre  a  M.  de  Beaumont,  .Urcheveque  de  Paris. 

t  M.  Sismonde  de  Sismondi,  JVbuveaux  principes  d'£conomie  poli- 
tique,  quoted  and  refuted  by  M.  the  Viscount  Alban  de  Villeneuve, 
Economic  politique  chrStienne,  torn.  i.  p.  207. 

f  Among  others,  M.  Stewart,  in  his  work  previously  quoted,  p.  198. 

§  M.  Sismondi,  ibid. 


214          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

It  appears  that  this  counsel  has  been  followed  in  many 
Protestant  States  of  Switzerland  and  Germany.  The  restric- 
tions of  all  kinds  that  have  been  imposed  upon  the  marriage 
of  the  poor,  and  of  laborers  who  have  only  their  industry  for 
a  support,  prove  that,  with  all  our  intelligence  and  civiliza- 
tion, we  could  give  lessons  in  barbarism  to  the  Caflres  and 
Hottentots.* 

To  the  honor  of  political  economy  it  must  be  said,  that 
most  of  the  writers  who  discuss  these  vital  questions,  reject 
all  means  of  constraint,  which  are  contrary  to  humanity  and 
good  morals,  and  insist  on  the  moral  restraint  so  much  re- 
commended by  Malthus.  Thus,  they  would  wish,  that  while 
enlightening  the  people  with  regard  to  their  true  interests, 
individuals  of  the  working  and  poorer  classes  should  be  in- 
duced not  to  involve  themselves  in  marriage  without  great 
prudence.  But,  as  M.  de  Maistre  observes,  "  this  is  the  fable 
of  the  bell ;  the  difficulty  is  to  attach  it  to  the  bearer.  Pro- 
pose to  the  youth  of  ardent  feelings  to  relinquish  marriage, 
in  order  to  maintain  the  equilibrium  of  society,  how  would 
you  be  received  ? "  f 

What  no  human  power  could  do,  the  Church  has  done  by 
the  law  of  celibacy,  "  And  with  all  the  perfection  which  hu- 
man affairs  will  allow ;  since  Catholic  restraint  is  not  only 
moral,  but  divine,  and  the  Church  supports  itself  on  motives 
so  sublime,  on  means  so  efficacious,  on  menaces  so  terrible, 
that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  human  mind  to  imagine  any- 
thing equal  or  approaching  to  it."  J 

Besides  the  advantage  of  opposing  a  barrier  to  the  exces- 
sive increase  of  population,  ecclesiastical  celibacy  possesses 
another  of  still  greater  weight  in  the  social  scale ;  it  is  to 

*  On  this  subject  may  be  recommended  a  work  of  great  research, 
and  full  of  interesting  facts,  by  M.  F.  N.  L.  Naville,  De  la  charitf  ?£gale, 
Geneva,  1830,  torn.  i.  part  ii.  sect.  ii. 

t  Du  Pape,  torn.  ii.  p.  107.  J  Du  Pape,  torn.  i.  p.  108. 


POSITION    OF    THE    PRIEST    IN    SOCIETY.          215 

prevent  the  priesthood  from  becoming,  by  its  monopoly  in  a 
few  families,  the  most  expensive,  as  well  as  the  most  useless 
of  sinecures. 

Habit  alone  renders  us  insensible  to  the  admirable  social 
position  of  the  Catholic  priest.  He  is  peculiarly  the  public 
man,  the  point  of  meeting  of  all  classes. 

So  much  the  more  powerful  in  this  world,  as  his  power 
is  not  of  this  world,  he  rules  all  conditions  by  the  eleva- 
tion of  his  character,  and  embraces  them  all  in  the  circle 
of  his  charity.  No  greatness  is  so  high,  no  misery  so  low, 
as  to  escape  his  influence. 

In  the  morning  he  catechises  the  vagabonds  of  the  streets, 
carries  consolation  and  hope  to  the  outcasts  of  society,  and 
takes  his  place  in  the  death-car  between  the  criminal  and  his 
executioner ;  in  the  evening,  under  the  surplice  of  a  Bourda- 
loue,  he  makes  the  haughtiest  monarchs  and  the  most  brilliant 
courts  tremble. 

Judging  of  men,  not  according  to  the  distinctions  by  which 
they  are  classed  in  space  and  time,  but  according  to  their 
common  origin  and  destiny,  he  reminds  them  all  of  the  sen- 
timents of  fraternity  which  their  equal  dependance  on  their 
Father  and  Master  in  Heaven  demands.  He  brings  down 
continually  to  the  level  of  death  the  swelling  of  pride,  the 
grandeur  of  power  and  wealth  ;  he  elevates  the  morality  of  the 
humble  and  unfortunate  by  the  right  of  the  elder-born  to  the 
majesty  of  heaven,  which  a  God  who  became  poor,  has 
secured  to  them.  He  obliges  the  great  to  regard  the  poor, 
not  as  the  unfortunate  who  are  to  be  consoled,  but  as  friends 
and  protectors,  whose  mediation  with  the  King  of  kings  must 
be  purchased  by  alms,*  as  a  skilful  financier  who  has  the 
secret  of  increasing  a  hundred-fold  the  gold  confided  to  his 
care.  He  teaches  the  poor  man  to  reverence  and  bless  the 

*  Facite  vobjs  araicos  .  .  .  ut  recipiant  vos  in  soterna  tubernacula. — 
(Luke  xyi.  9.) 


21G  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

great  as  his  benefactors,  and  the  noble  representatives  of  tho 
divine  bounty. 

If,  faithful  to  his  mission,  the  priest  forgets  himself,  content 
with  modest  garments  and  his  daily  bread,  knowing  no  other 
kindred,  no  other  family  than  that  which  religion  gives  him, 
he  becomes  all  powerful.  His  respectful,  but  firm  and  in- 
trepid voice,  will  make  the  cry  of  misery,  the  plaints  and 
murmurs  of  the  victims  of  injustice  and  oppression  resound 
in  the  saloon  of  wealth,  in  the  ear  of  the  great,  and  in  the 
council  of  kings;  his  hand  will  unlock  the  treasures  of  opu- 
lence and  pour  them  into  the  abodes  of  misery. 

He  will  not  be  satisfied  with  procuring  bread  for  the 
hungry  and  forsaken  invalid  ;  he  will  solicit  for  him  the 
honors  due  to  the  living  representative  of  a  poor  and  suffer- 
ing God.  The  inhabitants  of  palaces  will  follow  him  to  the 
hospitals,  and  the  most  forlorn  dwellings ;  royal  hands  will 
smooth  the  pillow  of  the  mendicant,  prepare  his  garments, 
his  linen,  and  his  remedies. 

Then  is  established  that  interchange  of  favors  and  benedic- 
tions, of  love  and  gratitude  which  forms  of  all  the  members 
of  society  one  family,  of  whom  the  rich  and  great  are  the 
elders.  Then  is  realised  the  miracle  of  Christian  society, 
sung  by  Isaiah : 

"  The  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  the  leopard  shall  lie 
down  with  the  kid ;  the  calf  and  the  lion,  and  the  sheep  shall 
abide  together,  and  a  little  child  shall  lead  them.  The  calf, 
and  the  bear  shall  feed  :  their  young  ones  shall  rest  together: 
and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  ox.  And  the  sucking 
child  shall  play  on  the  hole  of  the  asp :  and  the  weaned  child 
shall  thrust  his  hand  into  the  den  of  the  basilisk." 

But  from  whence  does  the  priest  obtain  this  divine  author- 
ity which  he  exercises  for  the  advantage  of  all ;  of  the  humble 
whom  he  saves  from  oppression,  and  of  the  great  whom  he  res- 
cues from  the  abyss  into  which  tyranny  is  rushing  ?  From 


POSITION    OF    THE    PRIEST    IN    SOCIETY.          217 

whence  does  he  derive  that  power  of  levelling  and  blending 
which  he  incessantly  opposes  to  the  selfish  tendencies  that 
would  soon  divide  men  into  nobles  surfeited  with  riches,  and 
into  voracious  serfs,  or  rather  pariahs  ?  From  the  fact  of  his 
celibacy  as  much  as  from  his  title  of  minister  of  the  Most  High. 

Let  priests  marry,  what  would  be  the  consequence  ?  What 
has  happened  in  England  and  all  Protestant  countries  which 
have  preserved  the  sacerdotal  hierarchy.  The  anti-social 
spirit  of  cast,  against  which  Catholicity  has  not  ceased  to 
protest  by  recruiting  its  ministry  from  all  ranks,  and  recog- 
nising no  other  claims  to  the  highest  functions  but  those  of 
merit  and  virtue,  the  spirit  of  cast  invades  the  priesthood. 
The  highest  dignities  have  become  the  exclusive  apanage  of 
the  younger  sons  of  the  family.  And  these,  to  revenge  them- 
selves for  the  contempt  with  which  inexorable  public  opinion 
pursues  a  false  and  useless  priesthood,  seek  to  surround  them- 
selves with  the  consideration  which  is  attached  to  wealth. 

Not  satisfied  with  vast  revenues,  they  do  not  disdain  the 
smallest  profits  of  the  smallest  traffic,  and  write  boldly  on 
the  gate  of  the  episcopal  palace :  Here  small  beer  is  sold.* 
They  bestow  on  their  children,  their  sons-in-law,  their  rela- 
tives and  friends  the  best  benefices,  and  the  richest  curacies. 
They  plunder  so  successfully  that,  in  poor  Ireland,  twelve 
Bishops  of  the  Church  established  by  law,  have  left  to  their 
families  the  modest  sum  of  sixty  one  millions  and  a  half  of 
francs  !f 

*  Cobbett,  Letters  on  the  Reformation,  &c.,  Letter  4th. 

t  An  English  work  recently  published  under  the  title :  Ireland  as 
a  Kingdom  and  a  Colony,  presents  (239)  estimates  the  total  amount 
of  property  left  by  twelve  of  the  last  Anglican  Bishops  deceased  in 
Ireland,  at  "  01,500,000  francs."  (See  FJlmi  de  Religion,  May  18th, 
1544.)  The  same  journal  gave  some  time  after,  the  amount  of  property 
left  by  Mgr.  Troy,  Catholic  Archbishop,  Primate  of  Ireland,  recently 
deceased,  leaving  for  his  whole  fortune  10  pence  half-penny,  (one  franc, 
five  cents.) 

VOL.  n.  10 


21S          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Subordinate  to  the  higher  clergy,  are  a  throng  of  poor 
curates  and  vicars,  "  whose  only  function  (except  reading  and 
some  chants  in  the  church  on  Sunday)  is  to  rear  large  fami- 
lies ;  and  these  escape  beggary  only  by  means  of  two  or  three 
millions,  which  their  cries  wrest  every  year  from  the  English 
parliament."  * 

The  absolute  nullity  of  such  a  priesthood  leads  selfishness 
to  divide  the  human  family  into  two  classes ;  on  one  side 
power,  riches,  pleasure,  science,  consideration ;  on  the  other, 
indigence,  opprobrium,  ignorance,  famine,  and  death — between 
them  an  abyss  of  hatred  and  antipathy. 


CHAPTER    XLIX. 

BARRIER    WHICH    THE    CATHOLIC    PRIESTHOOD    OPPOSES    TO 
DESPOTISM. WEAKNESS    OF    CONSTITUTIONAL    GUARAN- 
TEES.  POLITICAL   NECESSITY    FOR  THE  DISTINCTION 

OF  POWER  INTO  SPIRITUAL   AND  TEMPORAL. IM- 
MENSE   SERVICES    WHICH    CATHOLICISM    HAS 
RENDERED    TO    LIBERTY. 

A  PRIESTHOOD  which  derives  its  powers  from  God  alone, 
and  which,  by  celibacy,  escapes  the  seductions  of  fortune, 
will,  without  doubt,  displease  certain  statesmen,  who,  once 
placed  at  the  helm  of  affairs,  find  the  concentration  of  all 
powers  in  the  same  hands  a  very  fine  thing,  and  also  the 
liberty  thus  given  of  saying  to  every  public  functionary  who 
dares  to  open  his  mouth :  Obey  in  silence,  or  retire ! 

What  can  be  more  inconvenient  for  the  governing  who  are 
enemies  of  all  restraint,  than  an  eccentric  inalienable  admin- 
istration, which  will  boldly  say  to  them  on  many  occasions: 
Gentlemen,  you  are  leaving  your  own  sphere  and  invading 
*  Cobbett,  Letters  on  the  Reformation,  &c.,  Letter  4th. 


BARRIER    TO    DESPOTISM.  219 


ours!  We  cannot  obey  you  without  disobeying  God,  and 
betraying  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  people  whom  he  h;is 
committed  to  us. 

Nothing  could  be  more  mortifying  for  a  man  ambitious  of 
power,  than  this  distinction  between  spiritual  and  temporal 
authority,  and  the  reservation  that  God  has  made  to  the  first, 
of  the  glorious  department  of  souls. 

How  much  rivalry,  how  many  conflicts  would  disappear,  if 
the  tiara  of  the  Pontiff  and  the  royal  or  imperial  crown  were 
placed  upon  the  same  head ;  the  sword  and  the  crosier,  the 
sceptre  and  the  censor,  the  baton  of  justice  and  the  keys  of 
heaven,  in  the  same  hand. 

Alexander,  at  Tilsitt,  boasted  much  to  his  friend  of  the 
Tuilleries  of  the  homogeneousness  of  the  Russian  government 
and  unqualified  submission  to  the  ukase  of  its  Bishops,  Ab- 
bots, and  Priests.  Perhaps  the  Emperor  of  the  West,  much 
disturbed  then  at  finding  a  priest  who  dared  to  dispute 
with  him  the  empire  of  minds*  envied  the  Czar  his  omnipo- 
tence. 

However  that  may  be,  I  doubt  much  if  there  are  many 
men  in  Europe,  who,  to  avoid  the  conflicts  of  jurisdiction, 
would  be  willing  to  transmute  their  sovereigns  into  autocrats. 
I  doubt  even  if  the  most  ambitious  man  would  accept  the 
Muscovite  despotism  with  the  qualification  that  accompanies 
it.  It  is  well  known  that  these  Russians,  who  anticipate  all 
the  wishes  of  their  master,  like  their  Turkish  neighbors ;  like 
them,  too,  have  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  to  strangle. 

Do  all  you  please,  and  when  we  are  weary  we  will  murder 
you,  is  the  threat  which  the  subjects  of  a  despot  are  always 
expected  to  inflict  upon  him."}"  And  it  should  be  so :  it  is  a 
principle  of  eternal  justice  engraved  on  the  hearts  of  men,  and 

*  See  the  words  of  Napoleon  to  M.  de  Fontanes,  as  quoted,  ch. 
xxxiv.  note. 

t  Du  Pupe,  liv.  ii.  ch.  iv. 


220  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

on  the  pages  of  history,  that  everything  is  permitted  against 
a  man  to  whom  nothing  is  forbidden. 

A  wise  and  moderate  principle  of  opposition  may,  indeed, 
annoy  ambitious  power,  but  it  saves  it,  and  preserves  its  real 
strength,  by  compelling  it  to  be  just.  It  is  the  ballast  which, 
while  moderating  the  progress  of  the  ship,  prevents  it  from  an 
overturn.  We  always  advance  rapidly  enough,  when  we  tra- 
vel in  the  right  direction. 

Much  might  be  said  in  praise  of  that  general  law  of  the 
universe,  which  everywhere  resists  homogeneousness,  divides 
forces,  opposes  them  to  each  other,  and  produces,  as  the  re- 
sult, order,  beauty,  and  life ;  not  unity,  but  union.* 

The  last  age  and  our  own  have  seen  no  securities  for 
liberty,  except  in  the  division  and  balance  of  the  political 
powers.  This  is  the  great  effort  of  human  wisdom  against 
despotism.  It  is,  also,  if  we  may  be  permitted  to  say  it,  a 
beautiful  hint  borrowed  from  the  divine  constitution  of  the 
Church,  which  possesses,  in  the  episcopacy,  a  peerage  and  a 
representation  serving  as  a  balance  and  support  to  the  Pontifi- 
cal Supremacy. 

But  the  balance  of  powers  is  only  a  mockery  where  reli- 
gion does  not  check  the  passions,  by  protecting,  with  the  seal 
of  divine  inviolability,  the  rights  of  all,  and  bending  the  will 
to  the  common  yoke  of  duty!  It  is  easy  to  balance  material 
forces;  but  how  can  human  wills  of  such  unequal  power  be 
harmonized,  except  by  submitting  them  to  the  rule  marked 
out  by  an  all-powerful  will ! 

*  What  is  called  union  in  a  political  body  is  a  very  equivocal  thing; 
the  true  union  is  one  of  harmony  which  unites  all  parties,  however 
antagonistic  they  may  appear,  for  the  general  welfare  of  society,  as  dis- 
cords in  music  contribute  to  a  complete  harmony.  There  may  be  union 
in  a  state,  where  only  disturbance  is  apparent;  that  is  a  harmony  from 
which  happiness  results,  which  is  the  only  true  peace.  As  the  various 
parts  of  the  universe  are  eternally  united  by  the  action  of  some  and  the  re- 
action of  others.  (Montesquieu,  Grand,  et  Dtcad.  des  Remains,  ch.  ix.) 


BARRIER   TO    DESPOTISM.  221 

Among  a  people  who  have  ceased  to  be  truly  Christian,  by 
ceasing  to  be  Catholic,  what  is  a  representative  government? 
It  is  despotism  passing  from  hand  to  hand,  until  it  becomes 
established  in  a  more  or  less  numerous  aristocracy,  which 
will  govern  for  its  own  advantage,  leaving  the  people  to  die 
of  hunger,  if  it  refuses  the  bread  of  a  prison. 

Behold  liberal  England !  put  aside  the  small  number  of  its 
eligible  landed  proprietors  and  electors,  what  do  we  see  be- 
neath this  nation  of  princes  ?  Fourteen  millions  of  the  working 
class,  on  whom  industrialism  imposes  a  servitude  unknown  to 
the  negro  slave  of  the  colonies.*  Beneath  them,  again,  what 
do  we  find  ?  Four  millions  of  paupers,  given  up  to  destitu- 
tion, for  whom  iron  law  fixes  the  limits  beyond  which  they 
must  not  breathe.f 

If  there  is  anything  certain  in  theory  or  in  practice  to  the 
mind  which  is  not  blinded  by  irreligion,  it  is  that  human 
liberty  and  human  dignity  can  find  no  secure  protection,  ex- 

*  This  pre-eminence  granted  to  the  negroes,  vrill  not  astonish  those 
who,  without  having  seen  England,  have  read  what  the  English  and 
French  writers  agree  in  telling  us,  of  the  sad  lot  of  the  manufacturing 
population,  and  its  frightful  moral  and  physical  degradation.  This 
better  condition  is  easily  explained.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  the  plan- 
ter to  preserve  his  slaves  as  long  as  possible,  in  health  and  vigor ;  if 
they  are  ill,  he  is  bound  to  take  care  of  them.  If  they  die  he  can  only 
replace  them  at  a  great  expense.  It  is  not  so  with  the  head  manufac- 
turer. For  him  the  operative  is  a  hired  machine,  from  whom  he  is  to 
obtain  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  labor,  at  the  least  possible  expense. 
His  life  is  of  slight  importance ;  as  soon  as  he  is  disabled,  he  may  be 
cast  aside,  and  others  will  come  to  take  his  place. 

t  The  number  of  paupers  in  England,  amounts  to  a  sixth  part  of  the 
whole  population.  (See  Econom.  polit.  chrtt.,  by  M.  de  Villeneuve, 
torn,  ii.)  M.  the  Baron  Morogues,  estimates  it  at  a  fourth  and  even  a 
third.  (De  fa  Miser  e  des  Ouvriers.)  (See  De  Faction  du  Clfrge  dans 
fa  societes  modernes,  ch.  ii.,)  by  M.  Rubichon,  in  which  he  speaks  of 
tlie  worse  than  barbarian  English  institutions,  that  take  from  the  poor 
the  privilege  of  changing  their  residence. 

19* 


222  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

cept  in  the  old  distinction  established  by  Catholicity  between 
the  spiritual  and  temporal  power. 

It  is  intellect  which  directs  and  governs  the  world.  Pro- 
duce in  every  mind,  by  a  knowledge  of  the  Christian  law,  a 
uniform  and  deep  conviction  concerning  the  rights  and  duties 
of  men,  and  the  relations  between  subjects  and  rulers,  confirm 
the  public  conscience  in  its  love  of  virtue  and  its  aversion  for 
crime,  by  a  firm  faith  in  the  inevitable  and  impending  future, 
when  one  will  be  crowned  and  the  other  punished,  so  that  the 
fear  of  men  who  have  power  only  over  the  body,  yields  to  the 
fear  of  him  who  can  destroy  eternally  both  body  and  soul ; 
elevate  this  law  and  this  belief  above  the  assaults  of  the  pas- 
sions, by  entrusting  them  to  a  hierarchy  which,  by  its  univer- 
sally acknowledged  divine  character,  its  ramifications  ex- 
tending throughout  the  world,  and  the  political  independence 
of  its  head,  will  escape  the  overwhelming  influence  of  tem- 
poral power ;  in  a  word,  render  a  nation  truly  Catholic,  and 
3Tou  will  have  raised  an  impregnable  barrier  against  abso- 
lutism. 

Only  a  moderate  share  of  ability  is  needed  by  an  ambitious 
and  corrupted  prince  in  order  to  trifle  with  paper  charters, 
and  bribe  or  intimidate  the  guardians  of  the  public  liberties. 
But  how  is  he  to  violate  the  charter  of  justice  and  truth  en- 
graved on  all  minds  and  all  hearts,  and  defended  by  a  priest- 
hood whose  silence  would  be  a  crime  which  would  call  forth 
the  reproaches  of  its  head,  and  rouse  the  indignation  of  the 
Catholic  world!  A  national  religion  is  always  under  the 
control  of  the  rulers  of  the  nation ;  but  how  can  they  lay 
their  hand  upon  the  Catholic  Church,  without  extending  it 
over  the  whole  universe  ?  and  this  is  not  easily  done. 

I  know  that  a  servile  spirit  is  not  unfrequently  found  in 
some  members  of  the  clergy,  and  history  only  proves  this 
too  well. 

The  most  Catholic  of  kingdoms  saw,  in  1682,  a  certain 


BARRIER    TO   DESPOTISM.  223 

number  of  her  bishops,  assembled  by  order  of  the  king,  as- 
sume, in  opposition  to  the  Holy  See,  the  defence  of  a  prince, 
who,  arrived  at  the  summit  of  glory,  confiscated,  in  favor  of 
a  power  already  excessive,  the  last  remains  of  civil  and  ec- 
clesiastical liberties.*  But  this  scandal,  which  the  clergy  oi' 
France  were  to  expiate  and  repair  with  so  much  glory  a 
century  later,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  only 
proves  the  inevitable  weakness  of  certain  churches  in  presence 
of  the  temporal  authority,  and  the  absolute  necessity  for  them, 
if  they  would  resist  its  unjust  demands,  to  remain  firmly  united 
to  the  centre  of  unity. 

These  local  and  temporary  weaknesses  should  not  prevent 
us  from  affirming  that  the  Catholic  religion  is  the  only  one  in 
the  world  which  has  taught  men  firmly  to  resist  the  will  of 
despots,  without  having  recourse  to  insurrection  or  promoting 
anarchy. 

It  is  a  fact  written  in  characters  of  blood  on  every  page  of 
Christian  history,  from  the  hosts  of  heroes  who  marched  to 
death  rather  than  bend  the  knee  before  the  crowned  statues 
of  the  Roman  emperors,  to  the  Christians  of  our  own  times, 
defying  at  Tonquin  all  the  fury  of  Min-Meh ;  and  from  St. 
Peter  preaching  the  good  tidings,  in  spite  of  the  menaces  of 
the  Sanhedrim  and  the  edicts  of  Nero,  to  Pius  VII.,  opposing 
an  indomitable  courage  to  the  giant  who  had  triumphed  over 
the  forces,  and  thrown  into  desperation  all  the  intrepidity  of 
Europe. 

Every  one  knows  the  long  and  desperate  struggles  of  the 
priesthood  of  the  middle  ages  against  the  material  force,  which, 
without  it,  would  have  crushed  the  last  germ  of  civilization, 
and  irrevocably  buried  Europe  in  servitude  and  barbarism ! 

*  On  the  ecclesiastical  and  political  oearing  jf  the  affair  of  La  R£- 
gate  and  of  the  Declaration  du  Clerge,  which  was  the  consequence 
of  it.  See  M.  de  Maistre,  (Dc  FEglise  Gallicane  dans  st-s  rapports, 
&c.,  liv.  ii.) 


224          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

But  this  portion  of  our  ecclesiastical  records  are  yet  to  be 
re- written,  disfigured  as  it  has  been  by  many  of  our  historians, 
who  have  written  under  the  eye  of  parliaments.  It  is  an  ex- 
traordinary thing,  that,  while  Catholic  priests  have  deafened 
us  with  foolish  lamentations  over  the  alleged  aberrations  of 
Pontifical  power  in  the  middle  ages,  Protestant  science,  indig- 
nant at  so  much  ignorance  and  meanness,  seized  the  pen  and 
wrote :  It  is  an  assured  fact,  that,  since  the  memory  of  man, 
there  has  not  been  a  single  example  of  a  Pope  who  has  at- 
tempted anything  against  those  who  have  confined  themselves  to 
maintaining  their  rights,  without  intending  to  overstep  the 
limits  prescribed  to  them.*  After  dispelling  the  clouds  which 
covered  the  noble  figure  of  those  Pontiffs,  who  have  been  the 
real  educators  of  Europe  and  founders  of  that  magnificent 
Christian  republic,  admired  even  by  Hume,f  she  has  shown 
that,  without  the  struggles  of  the  Papacy  against  the  empire, 
all  Europe  would  have  fallen  very  early  into  one  or  many 
caliphats,  and  would  have  submitted  as  infallibly  as  disgrace- 
fully to  Turkish  sway,  and  to  oriental  oppression  and  stu- 
pefaction.^. 

Will  it  be  said  that  the  Church  fought  more  for  her  own 
independence  and  privileges  than  for  those  of  the  people  ? 
This  would  be  giving  boldly  the  lie  to  history,  which  shows 
us  that  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  this  epoch  was  the  sole 

*  Entretiens  philosophiques  sur  la  reunion  des  diffcrentes  com- 
munions chrttiennes,  by  M.  the  Baron  de  Starck,  p.  394. 

f  History  of  the  House  of  Tudor,  torn.  ii.  p.  9. 

|  M.  de  Starck,  Entretiens,  &c.,  p.  300.  It  must  be  acknowledged 
to  our  shame,  said  with  reason  the  author  of  an  excellent  compilation, 
that  we  owe  to  strangers  and  Protestants  the  best  works  published  on 
the  Papacy :  "  The  History  of  the  Life  and  Pontificate  of  Leo  X.  by 
William  Roscoe;  La  Vie  de  Gr^goireVll.,by  M.  Voigt;  I'Histoire 
rf' Innocent  III.,  et  ses  contcmporains,  by  Hurter,  &c."  (Annalcs  de 
Philosoph.  chrtiien.,  xvii.  p.  250.) 


BARRIER    TO    DESPOTISM.  225 

and  indefatigable  defender  of  the  weak  and  oppressed.*  Be- 
sides, was  not  the  cause  of  ecclesiastical  immunities  the  cause 
of  the  people,  at  a  time  when  the  Church,  which  had  become 
their  asylum,  offered  the  only  approach  to  honors,  wealth,  and 
power. f  Was  it  not  effectually  serving  liberty  and  civilization 
to  maintain  in  the  bosom  of  feudal  barbarism  a  society  which, 
by  opening  its  ranks  to  inferior  conditions,  elevated  serfs  to 
princes,  defended  the  sacred  doctrine  of  the  unity  of  races, 
and  protested  against  the  anti-social  classification  of  our  race 
into  lords  and  serfs,  into  men  of  rank  and  ciphers  ? 

All  liberties,  moreover,  are  kindred.  It  is  destroying  des- 
potism to  teach  temporal  power  that  it  is  not  omnipotent,  that 
there  are  certain  limits  beyond  which  it  cannot  pass,  under 
pain  of  finding  itself  disobeyed. 

Let  us  suppose  that,  when  Henry  VIII.,  in  order  to  ex- 
change his  lawful  wife  for  a  girl  whom  he  afterwards  con- 
demned to  death  as  a  prostitute,  declared  himself  head  of  the 
Church  of  England,  that  the  clergy  and  magistracy,  obedient 
to  the  voice  of  Rome,  had  opposed  to  him  the  unconquerable 
resistance  of  Cardinal  Pole,  Bishop  Fisher,  and  Chancellor 
More,  is  it  not  evident  that  England  would  have  preserved, 
with  religious  unity,  her  Magna  Charter,  and  the  noble  pri- 
vileges which  she  owed  to  her  Catholic  kings? 

A  Catholic  parliament  would  never  have  condemned,  with- 
out, form  of  laic,  to  be  hung  and  quartered,  according  to  the 
good  pleasure  of  the  Mng,\  seventy  thousand  Englishmen  of 
every  condition,  whose  crime  was  having  displeased  the  most 

*  This  is  the  testimony  of  two  men  who  cannot  come  under  suspic- 
ion :  M.  Guizot,  Cows.  d'Hisl.  moderne,  lec.on  vi.,  and  M.  Michelet, 
Histoire  de  France,  liv.  ii.  ch.  i. 

t  "  Her  salutary  protection  was  extended  to  all ;  even  those  whom  she 
did  not  ordain  she  covered  with  the  protecting  symbol  of  the  tonsure. 
She  became  a  vast  asylum — an  asylum  for  the  conquered,  the  Romans 
and  the  serfs;  the  serfs  rushed  into  the  church."  Michelet,  loc.  cit. 

J  These  are  the  words  of  the  sentence  passed  upon  Anne  Boleyn. 


226  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

horrible  monster  who  ever  soiled  the  annals  of  Christian 
monarchies. 

No  Catholic  nation  would  have  abandoned  to  the  accom- 
plices, women,  and  scullions  of  that  crowned  ogre,*  innu- 
merable abbeys,  hospitals,  colleges  and  pious  foundations, 
which  were  the  resource  of  the  poor,  and  whose  suppression 
has  produced  an  alarming  number  of  paupers,  whom  the  an- 
nual sum  of  two  hundred  and  forty  millions  of  francs  hardly 
rescues  from  death.f 

In  order  to  corrupt  a  nation,  and  mould  it  into  slavery,  it 
must  first  be  un- Catholicized.  Tyrants  have  understood  this 
admirably  well,  and  it  is,  more  than  ever,  necessary  that  the 
people  too  should  thoroughly  understand  it. 


CHAPTER    L. 

CONFIRMATION  OF   THE   PRECEDING. APPEALS    OF   THE   EPIS- 
COPATE   IN    FAVOR    OF    LIBERTY    OF    TEACHING. UNIVER- 
SITY QUESTION   IN   ITS  TRUE  LIGHT. REFLECTIONS. 

IT  is  very  important,  for  the  maintainance  of  social  equili- 
brium, that  there  should  be  men  obliged,  by  their  situation,  to 
raise  their  voice  against  injustice,  when  fear  closes  other 
mouths ;  and,  if  these  men  can  only  employ  prayer  and  the 
principles  of  reason  and  the  Gospel,  against  the  most  iniqui- 
tous power,  if  they  have  no  other  sword  to  oppose  to  it  than 

*  "  He  carried  so  far  this  prodigality,  that  he  gave  the  entire  revenve 
of  an  Abbey  to  a  woman,  to  reward  her  for  making  a  pudding  accord- 
ing to  his  taste."  (M.  de  Villeneuve,  Econom.  polit.,  torn.  ii.  p.  431.) 

t  M.  de  la  Borde,  in  his  work,  De  F  Esprit  (T.Ussociation,  estimates 
at  this  sum  the  annual  amount  of  the  pour  rates,  including  in  it  the 
expenses  of  collection.  This  is  the  direct  territorial  tax  of  England, 
(1-2,000,000,)  multiplied  by  20.  (Ibid.  liv.  iv.  ch.  vii.,  torn.  ii.  p.  203.) 


APPEALS    OF    THE    EPISCOPATE.  227 

that  of  divine  justice,  if  it  is  forbidden  them  to  make  an  ap 
peal  to  the  passions,  and  to  risk  any  other  blood  than  their 
own,  it  is  plain  that  they  present  the  essential  character  else- 
where not  to  be  found,  of  a  wise  opposition,  which  restrains 
despotism  without  unchaining  anarchy. 

Such  is  the  Catholic  priesthood,  even  when  it  is  most  iso- 
lated from  the  affairs  of  the  times.  It  protects  moral  liberty, 
the  mother  of  all  other  liberty,  by  maintaining  the  exclusive 
sovereignty  of  God  over  thought,  and  preventing  intelligence 
from  falling  under  the  control  of  man. 

If  there  remained  any  doubt  on  this  subject,  we  need  only 
cast  our  eyes  over  the  glorious  struggle  which  the  French 
Episcopate  is  now  sustaining  (1847,)  in  favor  of  liberty, 
which  is  the  dearest  to  a  nation  that  believes  in  the  existence 
and  dignity  of  the  soul. 

Vainly  did  the  university  coterie,  in  order  to  defend  the 
most  odious  of  causes,  endeavor  to  impose  upon  public  opin- 
ion with  regard  to  the  scope  of  the  debate.  The  subject  is  a 
vast  one,  on  whatever  side  we  view  it.  In  the  constitutional 
point  of  view,  it  stands  thus :  Will  the  charter  which  has 
sanctioned  liberty  of  teaching  prove  a  reality  or  a  deception  ? 
Will  the  university  monopoly,  which  was  abolished  in  1830,* 
be  revived  by  a  law,  and  the  corporation  which  exercises  it 
confiscate  to  its  own  advantage  the  public  privileges  solemnly 
granted  in  the  fundamental  compact,  such  as  the  equality  of 
all  before  the  law,  the  equal  right  of  all  to  admittance  to  pub- 
lic offices,  the  liberty  of  worship  and  of  conscience,  the  liberty 
of  the  press  and  of  opinions,  &c.,  liberties  evidently  decep- 

*  It  has  not  been  forgotten  that,  in  1S30,  the  civil  abolition  of  the 
university  monopoly  was  a  fact  which  the  organs  of  power  did  not  hes- 
itate to  recognise.  "  When  we  invoke  the  university  monopoly,  said 
M.  the  Attorney  General  Pusil,  in  the  legal  process  of  the  free  school, 
we  lean  on  an  expiring  legislation,  the  abrogation  of  which  we  would 
hasten  with  our  earnest  wishes,  &,c. 


228  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


tivo,  without  liberty  of  worship  and  of  conscience,  liberty  of 
the  press  and  of  opinions,  &c.,  privileges  evidently  delusive 
without  liberty  of  teaching  ?  * 

Considered  more  carefully  still,  and  under  all  its  phases, 
the  question  presents  itself  thus : 

Shall  the  State,  the  government  (that  is,  the  individual 
whom  a  coterie  may  elevate  to  the  presidency  of  the  coun- 
cil of  ministers),  besides  the  power  of  administering  what 
have  been  hitherto  called  political  affairs,  with  that  omnipo- 
tence which  centralization  gives,  possess,  also,  the  power  of 
controlling  the  intellect,  and  arbitrarily  ruling  thought  ? 

Will  the  State,  which  has  already  absorbed  the  communes 
and  the  department  to  the  advantage  of  an  absurd  social 
unity,  also  annihilate  the  family,  and,  seizing  the  child  when 
it  leaves  its  nurse's  arms,  will  it  assume  the  right  of  saying  to 
the  father:  "That  being  belongs  to  me;  provide  if  you  will 
for  its  material  future,  but  it  belongs  to  me  to  form  its  mind 
and  heart ! " 

Will  the  State,  which  converts  everything  into  gold,  make 
the  same  use  of  knowledge  ?  Will  she  put  a  tariff  on  science  ? 
Will  she  say  to  the  poor  man:  "  Since  you  are  poor,  renounce 
all  idea  of  education  and  the  hope  of  deliverance  from  your 
misery ;  if  any  one  has  the  audacious  charity  to  cherish 
your  talents,  I  shall  check  him"?  Will  she  say  to  families 
in  easy  circumstances :  "  I  know  that  you  regard  my  estab- 
lishments for  education  as  sinks  of  iniquity;  but,  if  your 
children  do  not  attend  them,  they  will  be  excluded  from  all 
occupations"? 

*  Those  who  would  still  deceive  themselves  with  regard  to  the  des- 
perate assaults  which  the  university  monopoly  made  on  the  public 
rights,  guaranteed  by  the  charter  to  all  Frenchmen,  can  disabuse  them- 
selves by  reading  the  spirited  reflections  of  un  Ami  de  la  Charte.  (See 
La  Charte-VeritS,  ou  le  Monopole  devant  les  Chambres,  Lyons, 
Janvier,  1S44.) 


APPEALS    OF    THE    EPISCOPATE.  229 

Will  the  State,  which  has  been  made  atheistical  by  the  law, 
and  indifferent  to  every  religious  belief,  undertake  the  absurd 
mission  of  teaching  religion  to  youth,  or  assume  the  right  to 
educate,  in  infidelity,  a  nation  which  cannot,  without  suicide, 
cease  to  be  Christian  ?*  Can  she  say  to  six  millions  of  pa- 
rents, to  whom  she  has  guaranteed  the  free  exercise  of  their 
religion :  "  I  know  the  great  influence  of  teachers  over  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  their  pupiis;  I  know  that  religion  is 
always  indifferent  to  the  man  whose  youth  has  not  been  in- 
spired by  it ;  I  intend,  then,  to  entrust  your  children  to  mas- 
ters who  will,  in  various  ways,  inculcate  upon  them  contempt 
for  all  religion  "  ? 

Will  the  State,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  low  prejudices  of  a 
tyrannical  faction,  have  a  right  to  destroy  the  religion  of  the 
majority,  by  proscribing  its  dearest  institutions  ?  Armed  with 
an  inquisitorial  power,  will  she  boldly  violate  the  asylum  of 
conscience,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  uni- 
versal opinion,  confound  the  religious  Catholic  in  the  same 
civil  incapacity  with  the  fugitive  from  justice,  and  the  par- 
doned criminal ! 

In  short,  will  the  French  nation  fall  under  the  power  of  a 
despotism  without  parallel,  a  Caliphate  more  degrading  than 
that  which  oppresses  the  followers  of  the  Prophet  ? 

This  is,  indeed,  the  indelible  disgrace  which  will  be  re- 
served for  her,  if  the  public  authorities,  intimidated  by  the 

*  This  was  the  idea  of  Napoleon  whose  name  is  much  used  by  the 
advocates  of  monopoly.  Confiding  his  son  to  the  care  of  Madame 
Montesquiou,  (governess  of  the  king  of  Rome,)  whose  rare  virtues  and 
deep  piety  he  appreciated,  he  said  to  her :  "  Madame,  I  entrust  to  you 
my  child,  upon  whom  depend  the  destinies  of  France,  and  perhaps  of 
all  Europe  ;  make  a  good  Christian  of  him."  Some  one  smiled  at  this ; 
and  the  enraged  Emperor  at  once  turned  to  him  and  addressed  him  thus : 
"  Yes,  Sir,  I  know  what  I  am  saying,  rny  son  must  be  made  a  good 
Christian,  for  otherwise  he  cannot  be  a  good  Frenchman."  (Fie  dc 
vVapolton,  by  M.  Michaud,  Biogr. ,  torn.  Ixxv.) 

VOL.    II.  20 


230  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

clamors  of  a  faction  which  publicly  names  itself  revolutionary, 
imperialist,  and  Voltairean,  remain  deaf  to  the  unanimous 
voice  of  the  Bishops  speaking  in  the  name  of  Catholic  France. 

And  what  do  these  eighty  Bishops  demand,  whose  words,  it 
would  seem,  have  a  little  more  power  in  the  country  than 
those  of  Villemain  and  Thiers?  They  demand  what  all  in- 
dependent minds,  whatever  may  be  their  religious  designation, 
demand,  the  free  and  loyal  execution  of  the  fundamental 
compact 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  same  clergy  who  were  for  a 
long  time  accused  of  a  secret  antipathy  to  the  charter,  now 
take  upon  themselves  the  defence  of  it,  and  with  wonderful 
energy  solicit  the  natural  and  indispensable  fulfilment  of  it! 
It  is  the  same  clergy  who  were  called  the  friends  of  privilege 
and  exception,  who  are  now  resisting  with  all  their  power, 
privilege  and  exclusiveness,  and  demand  liberty  for  all. 

They  are  accused  of  taking  upon  themselves  the  charge 
of  education,  and  it  is  even  feared  that  they  may  monopolise 
it;  but  even  if  their  penury  did  not  render  this  fear  absurd, 
what  means  have  they  of  rendering  their  co-operation  with 
the  University  formidable,  except  the  confidence  inspired  by 
their  knowledge  and  virtue.  Would  such  competition  involve 
anything  disastrous  for  the  state  ?  Would  France  be  in  peril, 
if  many  heads  of  families  preferring  for  the  education  of  their 
children  the  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  followers  of 
Voltaire,  the  University  should  be  itself  brought  back  to  the 
principles  of  Christian  instruction. 

What,  in  fact,  is  proposed  by  excluding  the  clergy  from  the 
education  of  youth  ?  Is  it  thought  possible  to  form  religious 
men  without  the  ministry  of  the  priesthood,  or  govern  a  nation 
of  atheists.  If  the  generation  which  in  ten  years  will  consti- 
tute the  French  nation,  remains  subject  to  a  teaching,  the 
immorality  and  irreligion  of  which  are  proved  by  an  over- 
whelming body  of  facts  to  which  nothing  has  been  opposed 


APPEALS    OF    THE    EPISCOPATE.  231 


but  calumnious  recrimination  and  insolent  denial,*  what  hand 
in  ten  years  will  be  able  to  hold  the  reins  of  France  ? 

Napoleon  himself  did  not  believe  it  possible  to  re-organize 
alone  a  society  dissolved  by  Voltaire  and  Rousseau,  and 
esteeming  his  sword  too  light  to  balance  so  many  unchained 
passions,  he  summoned  religion  to  the  re-construction  of  the 
State.  Do  the  men  of  July  believe  themselves  more  powerful 
than  he  ? 

It  excites  an  indescribable  pity  to  see  the  presumption  of 
pretended  statesmen  who,  after  adding  humiliation  to  humi- 
liation, as  the  great  captain  added  victory  to  victory,  cast  con- 
tempt and  disdain  on  that  religion  whose  co-operation  they 
claimed,  and  boldly  proclaim  from  the  midst  of  a  society  in 
ashes :  "  Let  the  priest  guard  their  altars,  we  and  our  brave 
followers  will  guard  the  state  and  the  throne!" 

This  was  said  more  than  sixty  years  since  when  the  Bishops 
of  France  vainly  contended  with  the  rulers,  that  the  altar  was 
indispensable  to  the  support  of  the  throne  and  of  public 
liberty.  Are  the  events  of  that  time  already  forgotten.  The 
altar  was  scarcely  shaken,  when  the  axe  of  the  revolution 
splintered  the  oldest  throne  of  Europe,  and  five  hundred 
thousand  swords  protected  the  scaffold  on  which  the  heads 
of  kings,  deputies,  ministers,  soldiers,  citizens  and  priests 
were  thrown  in  confusion. 

*  This  is  in  fact  the  only  answer  given,  to  this  day,  to  the  formal  act 
of  accusation  drawn  up  by  the  courageous  author  of  the  Monopole  uni- 
vcrsitaire  destructeur  de  la  Religion  et  des  Lois,  and  whoever  has 
read  the  work,  will  acknowledge  that  the  defenders  of  the  University 
were  compelled  to  choose  between  silence  and  abuse. 


232  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    LI. 

EXTERNAL  WORSHIP. — ITS  NECESSITY. — BEAUTY  OF  THE  CATH- 
OLIC   WORSHIP. NULLITY    OF    PROTESTANT    WORSHIP.^IT 

IS  ILLOGICAL. VAIN   EFFORTS  TO   RESTORE  IT  TO  LIFE. 

RELIGION  must  assume  a  form  if  it  would  interest  man, 
and  be  apprehended  by  him.  Eternal  truth  was  compelled 
to  incarnate  itself  in  order  to  subject  itself  to  our  sensual 
intelligence.  Her  revelations  would  soon  vanish,  if  entrusted 
to  a  book,  and  confined  within  the  dreamy  regions  of  the  in- 
dividual thought,  they  were  not  embodied  in  the  living  words 
of  pastors,  and  the  animated  forms  of  public  worship. 

Endowed  with  understanding,  imagination  and  sentiment, 
the  soul  naturally  feels  the  need  of  translating,  and  express- 
ing the  interior  results  of  its  three  faculties,  by  words,  images 
and  action.  To  forbid  it  the  very  expressive  language  of 
signs  and  symbols,  is  doing  violence  to  nature,  and  destroy- 
ing thought  and  feeling ;  for  thought  is  neither  well  conceived, 
nor  developed,  nor  preserved  without  the  aid  of  expression, 
and  symbols ;  feeling  can  neither  live  nor  communicate  nor 
perpetuate  itself  without  its  offspring — gesture. 

The  human  mind  expanded,  ennobled  and  spiritualised  by 
the  sublime  and  touching  faith  of  Christianity  must  re-produce 
it  in  various  ways,  and  demand  from  the  fine  arts,  expressions, 
images,  and  ceremonials  worthy  of  the  elevation  of  its 
thoughts,  the  grandeur  of  its  affections,  its  hopes  and  fears. 
A  glorious  reflection  of  the  light  which  enlightens  every  man 
coming  into  this  world,  the  Christian  worship  must  be  CathoHc 
and  universal,  and  surpass  other  worships  by  the  variety,  har- 
mony and  beauty  of  its  forms,  as  Christian  thought  surpasses 
all  other  thought.  This  it  has  done.  Are  not  the  noblest 
inspirations  of  eloquence,  poetry,  music,  architecture,  painting 
and  sculpture,  both  Christian  and  Catholic  ? 


ETERNAL    WORSHIP.  233 

This  is  acknowledged ;  homage  is  paid  to  the  beauties  of 
the  Catholic  worship,*  to  the  immense  impulse  it  has  given 
at  all  periods  to  the  fine  arts.  Hence  philosophy  with  reason 
accuses  Protestantism  of  having  disavowed  and  brutally  vio- 
lated by  its  false  spiritualism  one  of  the  first  laws  of  human 
nature.  The  lover  of  the  beautiful  demands  of  it  an  account 
of  the  master-pieces  which  its  vandalism  has  destroyed,  and 
for  those  which  it  has  checked  in  their  birth,  by  proscribing 
the  great  vehicle  of  genius — imagination.]-  Religious  men. 
reproach  it  with  having  dethroned  piety  by  taking  from  it 
its  finest  ornaments. 

We  must  observe,  however,  with  regard  to  this  last  reproach, 

*  "  It  must  be  acknowledged,"  says  a  Protestant  minister,  "  that  the 
Catholic  liturgy  is  incomparable,  and  that  nothing  is  more  desirable 
than  to  approach  it  as  nearly  as  possible.  When  we  enter  those  vast 
basilicks,  at  the  moment  of  the  celebration  of  the  offices,  with  that 
beautiful  Gregorian  music,  which  with  the  sound  of  instruments,  fills 
the  whole  extent  of  these  immense  edifices,  and  see  here  and  there  those 
images  of  the  prophets,  saints,  and  seraphim,  with  their  harps  and 
trumpets,  that  old  priest  with  white  locks,  who  entones  the  stanzas 
from  the  depth  of  the  sanctuary,  those  acolytes  with  their  censers,  and 
the  eagle  rising  towards  heaven  from  the  midst  of  the  choristers,  we 
experience  really  the  power  of  music  and  the  language  of  religious 
signs.  Separated  for  a  moment  from  the  things  of  earth,  we  believe 
ourselves  transported  into  the  midst  of  a  vision  of  the  Apocalypse. 
This  is  a  public  worship  worthy  of  Christianity,  and  of  the  gratitude 
of  a  refined  people  who  are  indebted  to  it  for  their  civilization."  (M. 
Muller,  Des  Beaux  Jlrts  et  de  la  Ldngue  dcs  Signes,  &c.,  p.  116.) 

f  "  By  subtracting  the  imagination  from  the  faculties  of  man,  it,  (the 
Reformation,)  clipped  the  wings  of  genius  and  set  it  on  its  feet.  Goethe 
and  Schiller  did  not  appear  until  Protestantism,  abjuring  its  dry  and 
morose  spirit,  returned  towards  the  arts  and  subjects  of  the  Catholic 
religion.  This  last  has  covered  the  world  with  her  monuments.  Pro- 
testantism sprung  up  just  three  centuries  ago;  it  prevails  in  England, 
Germany,  and  America;  it  is  practised  by  millions  of  men.  What  has 
it  constructed  ?  It  will  show  the  ruins  it  has  made,  among  which  it 
has  planted  some  gardens  or  established  some  manufactures."  (Chateau- 
briand, Etudes  Histor.,  preface. 


234          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

that  it  is  easy  for  the  Reformation  to  justify  itself  by  reply- 
ing that  its  fundamental  principle  necessarily  excludes  public 
worship,  and  that  its  only  error  in  the  matter  is  having  pre- 
served some  fragments  of  it. 

Indeed  public  worship  being  only  the  expression  of  public 
belief  or  the  symbolic  language  of  the  common  faith,  what 
can  be  the  public  worship  where  there  is  neither  common 
faith,  nor  public  belief,  except  a  criminal  mockery ! 

The  Bible,  and  a  silent  Bible,  is  the  only  religious  symbol 
which  Protestants  can  permit  in  their  temples ;  for  religious 
assemblies  are  very  inconsistent  with  a  religion  which  is  es- 
sentially individual. 

Thus,  nothing  is  more  perfectly  ridiculous  than  the  enthu- 
siasm of  certain  devotees  of  Germany  and  elsewhere,  for  the 
restoration  of  Protestant  worship.  It  certainly  will  be  very 
easy  to  re-establish  in  their  temples  what  Protestantism  form- 
erly demolished  as  an  obstacle  to  the  adoration  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  as  an  abominable  invention  of  the  Roman  anti-Christ. 

Images,  statues  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  Apostles,  the  Cress, 
candelabras  and  the  censer  will  be  restored.  The  organ 
will  mingle  its  majestic  sounds  with  the  voice  of  the  choris- 
ters ;  a  minister  after  many  invectives  against  the  papist 
mass,  will  ascend  the  steps  of  a  pretended  altar,  clothed 
with  a  sort  of  chasuble,  and  offer  an  imitation  of  a  sacrifice ; 
after  which,  turning  towards  those  present,  he  will  invite  them 
to  come  and  receive  from  the  same  hand,  some  the  figure, 
others  the  reality  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

These  are  the  signs  of  life  with  which  a  dead  body  might 
be  surrounded  in  a  chapel ;  but  to  make  Protestantism  move, 
preach,  sing,  sigh  and  pray  is  radically  impossible ;  a  corpse 
does  nothing  of  all  that. 

It  will  be  said:  This  is  at  least  an  edifying  spectacle. 
Spectacle  it  may  be :  but  not  edifying.  Nothing  can  be  less 
edifying  than  a  solemn  public  falsehood  connected  with  mat- 


OBJECTIONS    AGAINST    CATHOLIC    WORSHIP.     235 


lers  of  religion.  As  a  spectacle,  such  a  worship  has  not, 
like  profane  spectacles,  the  advantage  of  interesting  the 
public  by  representing  to  them  the  passions  whose  language 
every  one  comprehends.  Exhibiting  a  religion  which  belongs 
to  no  one,  what  can  it  be  but  an  unintelligible  pantomime,  a 
phantasmagoria  no  less  sacrilegious  than  absurd  ?  And 
moreover,  what  attracts  to  these  temples  but  the  charm  of 
solitude?* 


CHAPTER    LII. 

OBJECTIONS   AGAINST   TUB    CATHOLIC    WORSHIP. MULTI- 
PLICITY   OF   CEREMONIES. USE    OF   LATIN. 

I  shall  speak  elsewhere  of  the  civilizing  influence  of  Ca- 
tholic worship.  I  would  here  notice  three  reproaches  that 
are  cast  upon  it.  1st,  for  multiplying  its  rites  and  ceremonies 
so  much  as  to  conceal  the  substance  under  an  oppressive 
mass  of  forms ;  2d.  for  employing  in  its  Liturgy  a  language 
unknown  to  the  people ;  3d.  for  giving  too  high  a  place  to 
the  creature  in  an  institution  which  has  God  for  its  object — 
(by  this  the  worship  of  the  Saints,  and  particularly  of  Mary, 
is  intended.) 

I  shall  not  give  much  attention  to  the  first  two  objections, 
upon  which  far  less  weight  is  laid  since  there  has  been  an 
opportunity  of  estimating  the  moral  and  artistic  effect  of 
Liturgies  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  in  a  worship  with  scanty 
rites. 

If  instead  of  condemning  from  the  elevation  of  their  igno- 

*  Stoves  are  necessary  in  Protestant  temples,  said  a  lively  traveller, 
M.  Veuillot,  Pelerinage  en  Suisse,  torn,  i.,  p.  27.  Very  well  for  win- 
ter !  but  in  summer  ?  Perhaps  ices  may  sometimes  be  distributed  there ' 


236  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

ranee,  the  numerous  ceremonies  of  the  Catholic  worship,  the 
objectors  would  take  the  pains  to  penetrate  the  deep  signifi- 
cance of  them  and  study  their  vast  and  wonderful  symbolism, 
they  would  see  that  everything  is  perfectly  connected  in  this 
beautiful  system,  that  every  part  has  its  reason  and  also  its 
effect,  and  that  the  skill  with  which  the  Church  has  intro- 
duced so  great  a  variety  into  the  very  limited  plan  of  its 
Liturgy  cannot  be  sufficiently  admired. 

Indeed,  what  do  we  find  in  this  series  of  mysterious  pic- 
tures which  it  presents  to  our  eye  in  the  course  of  the  year  ? 
Nothing  less  than  the  history  of  the  world,  from  the  Word 
which  created  heaven  and  earth,  to  the  Word  which  is  to 
produce  a  new  heaven,  and  a  new  earth  ; — the  history  of  the 
Redeemer,  from  the  day  he  was  promised  to  guilty  man,  to 
the  day  when  he  will  receive  into  his  glory  the  last,  in  time, 
of  the  elect;  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  from  the 
period  when  it  was  sighing  in  the  catacombs,  to  the  final 
period  when  pursued  into  the  depths  of  the  deserts  by  tri- 
umphant impiety,  it  will  see  the  banner  of  the  spouse  unfurled 
in  heaven  and  will  entone  an  eternal  Hosannah ! 

If  the  Catholic  ceremonies  are  generally  considered  beau- 
tiful and  imposing  by  those  who  only  comprehend  the  mate- 
rial part  of  them,  what  effect  would  they  not  produce  on  those 
who  really  understood  the  spirit  of  them !  Would  the  longest 
office  leave  room  for  ennui  if  those  present  could  follow  the 
thought  of  the  Church? 

Very  few  Christians  indeed  are  sufficiently  well  instructed 
to  enjoy  the  internal  beauties  of  the  worship ;  but  because 
many  are  too  short-sighted  to  comprehend  the  whole  extent 
of  this  vast  edifice,  is  this  a  reason  that  the  Church  should 
demolish  it?  In  an  age  like  ours  when  so  much  is  said  of 
the  brotherhood  of  nations ;  when  wonderful  inventions  an- 
nihilate distances  and  promise  to  make  of  the  whole  world 
only  one  city,  is  there  not  some  grandeur  in  the  idea,  vainly 


OBJECTIONS    AGAINST    CATHOLIC    WORSHIP.     237 

cherished  by  Leibnitz,*  of  a  universal  language,  which  while 
diffusing  the  alphabets  of  every  nation  over  the  world,  should 
also  bestow  upon  it  all  the  philosophers,  historians,  literati 
and  learned  men,  whom  antiquity  and  our  ancient  Europe 
can  number?  Would  not  its  realisation  be  an  immense  step 
towards  the  union  of  human  families  ? 

This  miracle  has  been  worked  long  since  by  the  Catholic 
Church.  Thanks  to  its  contempt  for  the  ridicule  of  heretics 
and  the  blind  counsels  of  some  of  its  children,  the  elders  of 
all  the  nations  of  the  globe  now  speak  the  language  of  Cicero, 
Virgil,  Livy,  Tertullian,  St.  Augustine,  Kepler,  Descartes  and 
Newton. 

Must  not  such  a  result,  which  the  Church  alone  could  ob- 
tain by  rendering  obligatory  the  use  of  Latin  in  its  Liturgy, 
show  the  disadvantage  of  singing  the  praises  of  God  in 
a  language  which  is  understood  only  by  a  few,  especially 
if  it  is  easy  to  remedy  this  disadvantage  by  translations 
which  are  in  all  hands  and  by  the  oral  explanations  of  the 
priest. 

The  following  is  the  problem  presented  to  the  Church  in 
view  of  thousands  of  people  who  were  divided  by  language 
more  than  by  space: 

Must  she  procure  for  these  nations  the  immense  advantage 
of  understanding  each  other,  by  establishing  the  same  reli- 
gious language,  at  the  risk  that  by  inattention  and  ignorance 
a  few  of  the  words  should  be  lost  which  she  addresses  to 
God  in  the  name  of  this  vast  family ;  or  would  it  be  better 
for  the  good  pleasure  of  those  who  cannot  or  will  not  read 
their  prayers  at  Mass  that  she  should  herself  odopt  the  three 
thousand  five  hundred  idioms  which  the  world  speaks,  and 
leave  these  nations  forever  mute,  and  without  the  means  of 
communication  with  each  other? 

Have  those  who  so  lightly   condemn  the  solution  which 

*  See  Esprit  de  Leibnitz,  langue  universelle,  torn.  iv.  p.  202. 


238  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

Rome  has  given  to  this  problem,  ever  considered  or  even 
looked  at  it ! 

"  What  a  sublime  idea,"  exclaims  M.  de  Maistre,  "  is  that 
of  a  universal  language  for  the  Universal  Church!  From  the 
North  Pole  to  the  South,  the  Catholic  who  enters  into  a 
church  of  his  own  ritual  is  at  home  and  nothing  is  strange 
in  his  eyes.  On  arriving  he  hears  what  he  has  heard  all  his 
life ;  and  he  can  mingle  his  voice  with  those  of  his  brethren. 
He  understands  them,  they  understand  him  ;  he  can  exclaim  : 
"  Rome  is  entire  in  all  places  ;  the  whole  of  her  is  found  where  I  am." 

"  The  corruption  of  the  age  seizes  continually  certain  words, 
and  spoils  them  for  its  amusement.  If  the  Church  spoke 
our  language,  some  bold  free-thinker  would  be  sure  to  render 
the  most  sacred  word  of  the  Liturgy  either  ridiculous  or  in- 
decent. On  every  account  the  religious  language  should  be 
put  beyond  the  power  of  man."* 


CHAPTER    LI  1 1. 

WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS. WHY    REJECTED    BY    PROTESTANTISM. 

FOUNDATION    OF   THIS   WORSHIP. 

MOST  Protestants  at  length  candidly  acknowledge  that  the 
Catholic  Church  does  not  adore  and  has  never  adored  the 
saints,  and  the  absurd  accusation  of  idolatry  is  no  longer  met 
with  except  in  the  scandalous  pamphlets  of  the  Bosts,  Malans, 
Monods  and  other  traffickers  in  the  scurrility  of  the  old 
Reformation.  But  we  are  reproached  with  giving  to  the 
saints  too  high  a  place  in  our  worship.  Might  we  not  ask  of 
them  in  our  turn  why  they  have  not  given  them  any  ? 

In  their  religious  system,  what  has  become  of  the  great 
*  Du  Pape,  liv.  i.  ch.  20. 


WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS.  239 

family  of  the  children  of  God,  united  forever  by  the  indisso- 
luble ties  of  charity,  and  the  elder  brethren  of  which,  fortu- 
nate possessors  of  the  celestial  inheritance,  employ  their  credit 
with  the  common  Father  for  the  benefit  of  their  brethren  who 
are  still  engaged  in  the  conflicts  of  life  ? 

Was  this  consoling  interchange  of  honors  and  merits,  of 
prayers  and  intercessions,  between^the  inhabitants  of  earth 
and  those  of  heaven,  a  belief  which  all  Christian  antiquity 
professed  in  the  creed  by  the  expression  communion  of  saints, 
was  it  so  offensive  to  God  and  injurious  to  men,  as  the  pre- 
tended Reformers  affirmed  it  to  be  ?  We  must  acknowledge, 
however,  that  in  this  they  showed  themselves  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  their  principles. 

How  could  those  who  repudiate  the  visible  hierarchy  by 
which  Christ  transmits  to  us  his  words  and  his  sacraments, 
how  could  they  accept  the  invisible  hierarchy  which  bears 
our  supplications  to  the  foot  of  the  eternal  throne,  and  brings 
down  from  it  streams  of  grace  ?  Since  God  deigns  to  con- 
verse with  each  of  us  and  has  appointed  no  one  to  explain  to 
us  his  word,  why  should  we  commission  any  one  to  present 
to  him  our  demands  ?  If  he  speaks  to  us  without  an  inter- 
preter, will  he  not  hear  us  without  an  intercessor  ? 

Sad  reasoning  this,  which  separating  the  individual  from 
his  kind,  under  pretext  of  uniting  him  more  closely  with  God, 
converts  him  into  a  savage  as  isolated  from  God  as  from 
men  ;  for  it  is  written  :  Wo  to  him  who  is  alone  ?  * 

And  on  what  do  these  miserable  cavillers  depend  in  order 
to  destroy  the  magnificent  spiritual  city  which  faith  offers  to 
our  homage  and  our  love ;  an  immense  city,  of  which  God 
and  his  Christ  are  the  chief,  the  corner-stone,  of  which  Mary 
is  the  Queen ;  of  which  angels,  prophets,  apostles  and  all  the 
blessed  are  in  different-  degrees  the  ministers,  the  high  offi- 
cials, the  adult  citizens ;  of  which  we  ourselves  are  the  new- 
*  Eccles.  iv.  10. 


240  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

born,  still  hovering  between  life  and  death?*  Is  it  on  the 
Bible,  to  which  they  incessantly  appeal  ?  But  the  Bible 
everywhere  represents  to  us  God  surrounded  with  his  angels 
and  saints,  as  so  many  ministers  and  counsellors  ;  f  honoring 
them  with  the  name  of  friends ;  J  making  their  names  a  title 
of  glory  ;§  seating  them  on  his  throne,  associating  them  in 
the  exercise  of  his  sovereignty  as  he  associates  them  with  the 
joys  which  the  earth  offers  him ;  [|  placing  individuals,  cities 
and  kingdoms  under  their  guardianship.lT 

They  seem  to  fear  debasing  God  in  the  eyes  of  men  by 
elevating  the  saints !  This  shows  a  very  great  ignorance  of 
God  and  man.  What  more  sad,  or  less  benevolent  than  this 
isolated  God,  jealous  of  reform,  eclipsing  the  saints  by  the 
brilliancy  of  his  glory,  instead  of  making  them  shine  as 
suns,**  and  compelling  them  to  be  only  automata  in  his 
presence. 

Transport  the  sun  into  empty  space,  extinguish  those 
floods  of  light  with  which  he  enriches  our  planet,  how  will 
he  appear  to  the  eye  of  man  !  It  is  the  earth  which  makes 
us  admire  the  sun,  and  it  is  in  his  saints  that  God  would 
render  himself  admirable.ff 

To  allow  the  blessed  an  active  part  in  the  Divine  govern- 
ment, would  be  assuming,  according  to  the  objectors,  that  the 
hand  of  the  Most  High  is  not  strong  enough  to  hold  alone 
the  sceptre  of  the  world. 

What  bar-room  philosophy!      Did  it  ever  enter  into  the 

*  Ephes.  ii.  19,  20  ;  Hebr.i.  14  ;  I.  Peter  ii.  2. 
f  Daniel  vii.  10;  III.  Kings  xxii.  19,4. 

I  Ps.  cxxxviii.  17. 
§  Exod.  iii.  16. 

||  Sap   in.  8;  Apoc.  iii.  21. 

II  Daniel  vii.  16 ;  ix.  21 ;  x.  13  ;  xii.  1  ;  Luke  xv.  17. 
**  Justi  fulgebunt  sicut  sol.  (Matth.  xiii.  43.) 

tf  Mirabilis  Deus  in  sanctis  suis.  (Ps.  Ixvii.  36.) 


WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS.  241 

mind  of  the  Christian,  however  uninstructed,  that  God,  by 
associating  the  saints  in  his  government,  proposed  rather  to 
relieve  himself  by  it  than  to  glorify  them?  What  ignorance 
would  this  show  of  Scripture  and  of  man  !  These  wise  stu- 
dents of  the  Bible  do  not  know  that  the  Heaven  which  Jesus 
Christ  promises  us,  is  the  kingdom  of  his  Father,  his  own 
throne,  whose  heirs  we  are,  conjointly  with  him.*  They 
were  ignorant  of  the  promise  which  he  made  to  his  Apostles 
and  their  followers  to  associate  them  in  the  power  he  had 
received  to  judge  the  world,  and  the  invitation  which  he  has 
given  us  to  make  friends  in  Heaven  who  are  capable  of  open- 
ing for  us  its  gates.f  They  regard,  then,  these  thrones  vir- 
tues, powers,  dominations  and  principalities,  with  which  Scrip 
ture  peoples  heaven,  as  so  many  sinecures. 

In  a  word,  they  have  never  read  the  heart  of  man.  Is  not 
the  unbounded  ambition  which  agitates  it,  its  insatiable  thirst 
for  grandeur  and  power,  plain  proofs  of  our  vocation  for  the 
supreme  empire  ?  Who  would  wish  for  heaven,  if  the  felicity 
enjoyed  there  were  only  an  eternal  idleness. 

What  do  the  Reformers  oppose  to  this  collection  of  bibli- 
cal and  philosophical  proofs,  which  not  only  justify  the  wor- 
ship that  we  render  to  the  saints,  but  would  tend  to  lead  us 
to  look  upon  it  as  necessary,  if  the  Catholic  Church  had  not 
limited  itself  to  declaring  it  good  and  useful  ?J  A  few  pas- 
sages of  Scripture,  among  others  that  of  St.  Paul :  "  For 
there  is  one  God,  and  one  Mediator  of  God  and  men,  the 
man  Christ  Jesus."  §  To  have  recourse  to  the  intercession 
of  saints,  it  is  said,  is  to  recognise  many  mediators,  and  do 
an  injury  to  Jesus  Christ;  what  can  be  more  evident? 

But  what  they  answer  will  be  given  to  the  following  ex- 
actly similar  reasoning!  Christ  has  said:  Call  none  your 

*  Romans  viii.  17.  f  Matth.  xix.  2S  ;  Luke  xvi   9. 

%  Council  Trent,  Sess.  xxv.  §  I.  Timoth.  ii.  5. 

VOL.    II.  21 


2-12  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

father  upon  earth  :  for  one  is  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  :  * 
then  the  child  who  gives  to  the  author  of  his  days  the  name 
of  lather,  and  pays  him  the  obedience  and  honor  attached 
to  this  title,  violates  the  law  of  Christ,  insults  God,  and  assails 
his  Divine  descent. 

It  will,  doubtless,  be  answered,  that  the  honors,  rendered  to 
the  fathers  of  this  world,  far  from  being  derogatory  to  the 
Heavenly  Father  who  expressly  commands  them,f  are  agree- 
able to  him  and  terminate  in  him,  human  paternity  being  only 
a  flowing  out  or  a  visible  image  of  the  Divine  paternity  ;  and 
as  God  when  he  connects  parents  with  the  creation  of  the 
child,  gives  them  a  share  in  the  rights  and  honors  of  patern- 
ity, on  condition,  however,  that  the  child  should  honor  his 
parents  and  adore  God  alone,  the  only  true  author  of  life ; 
so  it  is  this  title  only  and  the  absolute  authority  which  is  de- 
rived from  it,  which  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  text  above  quoted, 
claims  for  our  Heavenly  Father. 

Such  is  also  our  answer  to  the  objection  drawn  from  the 
words  of  the  Apostle. — In  honoring  the  saints  it  is  God  whom 
we  honor,  the  author  of  their  glory,  and  who  wishes  to  be 
glorified  in  them.|  We  openly  avow  that  the  favor  which 
they  enjoy,  as  well  as  the  graces  which  they  obtain  for  us, 
are  the  fruit  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  pray  them  to 
employ  this  favor,  to  second  our  petitions,  and  to  think  that 
their  prayers  will  be  more  acceptable  than  ours,  would  it  be 
doing  an  injury  to  the  Supreme  Mediator,  or  rather  is  it  not 
rendering  glory  to  him  ?  Nothing  is  more  to  the  glory  of 
Jesus  Christ  than  having  peopled  heaven  with  the  dispensers 
of  his  favors;  nothing  so  much  displays  the  infinite  riches  of 
his  merits  as  the  privilege  he  allows  to  millions  of  drawing 
perpetually  upon  them. 

Finally,  the  Protestant  must  concede  to  the  Apostles  during 

*  Matth.  xxiii.  9.  t  Exod.  xs.  12. 

j  II.  Thessal.  i.  10. 


WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS.  243 

their  mortal  life  that  benevolent  intervention  between  Christ 
and  men,  which  he  refuses  to  the  saints. 

It  is  evident  from  Scripture  that  Christ  had  established 
them  as  his  ministers,  his  plcnipolcnliaries,  the  dispensers  of 
his  gifts,  the  falliers  of  souls,  his  coadjutors  in  the  redemption 
of  the  world,  and  that  they  had  in  these  different  qualities,  a 
right  to  the  homage,  to  the  respect,  to  the  submission  and 
confidence  of  all  Christians.*  It  is  evident  also  that  they 
were  the  organs,  the  petitioners  of  men  near  God  and  that 
they  regarded  prayer  as  their  most  important  function.-)- 

But  could  death  destroy  those  glorious  relations  which 
connected  the  Christian  society  with  its  founders?  While 
giving  to  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Church  the  greatest  proof  of 
love  by  the  effusion  of  their  blood,  would  the  Apostles  have 
lost  the  glorious  mission  of  enlightening  and  saving  the 
world,  and  their  right  to  the  admiration,  love  and  gratitude 
of  men  ?  J 

While  associating  them  in  his  glory,  would  Christ  have 
excluded  them  from  a  share  in  his  solicitude  for  that  Church 
which  was  won  by  his  blood,  but  edified  and  cemented  by 
their  labors  and  their  martyrdom  ?  Would  that  zeal  which 
made  them  eager  to  be  cursed  for  their  brethren  §  be  extin- 
guished in  the  bosom  of  eternal  charity  ?  Could  their  prayer, 
so  effectual  to  restore  the  dead  to  life,  be  now  without  value 
before  God  ?  In  short,  could  they  be  in  heaven  only  a  vain 
shadow  of  what  they  were  on  earth.  Who  would  dare  to 
think  it! 

I  have  sufficiently  proved,  it  seems  to  me,  that  the  total 
neglect  of  the  saints  in  the  Protestant  worship  is  entirely  at 
variance  with  Scripture  and  the  general  spirit  of  Christianity. 
— I  will  now  show,  in  a  few  words,  that  it  is  no  less  objec- 
tionable in  a  philosophical  and  moral  p'lint  of  view. 

*  Matth.  x.  14  ;  Mark  xvi.  16  ;  Luke  x.  10 ;  I.  Cor.  iii.  9 ;  II.  Cor.v.  2C 
f  Act.  A  p.  vi.  A.  f  Matth.  v.  13,  1-1.  §  Rom.  ix.  3. 


244          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


CHAPTER    LIV. 

NATURAL    FOUNDATION    FOR    THE    WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS. ITS 

MORAL    INFLUENCE. 

AMONG  the  noble  instincts  which  do  honor  to  the  heart  of 
man,  we  should  place  in  the  first  rank  the  need  which  he 
naturally  feels  of  offering  the  homage  of  respect  and  venera- 
tion to  noble  and  virtuous  actions. 

To  celebrate  the  memory  of  men  who  have  deserved  well 
of  their  kind  by  the  exhibition  of  lofty  virtues,  by  their  teach- 
ings, or  by  the  establishment  of  wise  and  useful  institutions, 
is  at  the  same  time  a  debt  of  gratitude  and  a  great  incitement 
to  virtue.  "The  honors  rendered  to  heroes,"  a  Christian 
philosopher  has  said,  "  are  the  best  encouragement  to  hero- 
ism." *  The  nation  which  does  nothing  to  perpetuate  the 
remembrance  of  its  great  men,  is  without  its  most  necessary 
institution,  a  school  of  virtue.  But  this  nation  does  not  exist 
and  never  has  existed. 

Every  nation  has  its  heroes  and  its  sages,  whose  practice 
and  precepts  she  proposes  as  a  model  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions, the  respect  which  she  bears  them  extends  to  everything 
which  recalls  their  memory;  to  their  mortal  remains,  to  the 
spot  which  gave  them  birth,  the  places  where  they  have  lived 
and  died,  to  their  images,  their  statues,  and  even  their  arti- 
cles of  household  use.  The  worship  of  illustrious  men,  of 
relics  and  of  images  is  as  ancient,  and  as  universal  as  the 
human  race ;  it  is  then  legitimate  in  its  principle ;  and  makes 
a  part  of  the  laws  of  humanity. 

Without  doubt,  men  have  abused  this  law  as  all  others. 
Pagan  antiquity  was  grossly  deceived  in  the  choice  of  its 
heroes  and  more  grossly  still  in  the  worship  which  it  rendered 
*  St.  Augr.  Ssrm.  47,  tie  Sanct. 


FOUNDATION    FOR    THE    WORSHIP    OF    SAINTS.    245 

them.  The  material  force  which  arbitrarily  ruled  the  earth, 
appropriated  to  its  own  advantage  the  honors  of  the  apotheo- 
sis. The  Sacred  Way  which  conducted  the  ravagers  of  the 
world  to  the  Capitol,  became  the  only  road  to  Heaven. 

Christianity  did  justice  to  this  monstrous  worship.  It 
reserved  to  God  alone  the  supreme  honors  of  adoration ;  but 
instead  of  changing  God  into  a  monarch  inaccessible  to 
human  weakness,  jealous  of  maintaining  the  infinite  distance 
which  separates  him  from  the  creature,  it  represented  him  as 
an  infinitely  good  Father  who  loves  to  surround  himself  with 
men  as  with  his  children,  and  who  subjects  them  for  a  few 
days  to  the  painful  trials  of  life,  only  to  associate  them  with 
his  glory,  his  power,  and  his  joy  in  the  kingdom  which  will 
have  no  end. 

What  is  Heaven  according  to  Scripture  ?  It  is  the  house 
of  the  father  of  the  family;  it  has  places  for  every  one,  for 
every  one  is  called  to  its  enjoj'ment.  What  is  necessary  to 
enter  it?  It  is  sufficient  to  love  God  and  man  sincerely; 
tins  is  the  whole  law.  The  love  of  God  and  of  our  neighbor 
carried  to  perfection,  that  is  to  say,  to  forgetfulness  of  self, 
constitutes  the  Christian  hero  and  gives  a  claim  to  the  highest 
place.  If  the  condition  is  difficult,  it  does  not  exceed  the 
power  of  any  one.  Is  there  any  one  who  cannot  prefer  God 
to  everything  and  his  neighbor  to  himself. 

What  higher  morality  than  to  direct  all  our  ambition  to- 
wards promoting  the  glory  of  God  and  the  happiness  of 
man !  What  an  easy  condition,  within  the  power  of  every 
one,  for  attaining  the  first  rank !  What  better  adapted  to 
excite  a  universal  enthusiasm ! 

But  this  teaching,  to  become  efficacious,  must  be  realized 
before  the  eyes  of  men.  As  worship  only  attains  its  end, 
which  is  to  inspire  the  sentiment  of  adoration,  when  it  re- 
calls the  sovereignty  of  God  by  its  grandeur  and  pomp;  so 
teaching  could  only  attain  its  end,  which  is  to  excite  in  man 

21* 


24G          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

the  aspiration  to  sanctity,  by  presenting  to  his  eyes  the  bril- 
liancy of  the  celestial  crown.  God  must  appear  in  his  temple 
as  he  presents  himself  to  our  thought,  as  he  will  show  him- 
self to  us  at  the  Last  Day,  surrounded  with  the  glorious 
company  of  Saints. 

This  is  done  by  the  Catholic  Church.  She  excites  and 
maintains  a  holy  emulation  among  her  children,  by  inviting 
them  every  day  to  meditate  on  the  example,  and  celebrate 
the  triumphs  of  those  among  them  whom  heaven  and  earth 
have  called  with  one  voice  to  take  their  place  upon  her  altars. 

What  eloquent  preachers,  are  those  heros  of  every  age, 
of  either  sex,  of  every  condition,  who  say  to  each  one :  We 
were  what  you  are ;  it  depends  on  yourself  soon  to  become 
what  we  are,  and  even  greater ;  for  the  seed-time  which  has 
passed  for  us,  still  promises  you  rich  harvests  ? 

I  do  not  wish  to  discuss  here  the  validity  of  the  reasons 
according  to  which  the  Church  decrees  to  a  saint  the  honors 
of  public  worship.  Whoever  knows,  and  every  one  can 
know,  the  slow  processes  of  these  matters  at  Rome,  the  pub- 
licity which  she  is  bound  to  give  them,  the  extreme  severity 
of  her  examinations,  and  the  multiplicity  of  proofs  which  she 
demands,*  will  avow  without  hesitation,  that  every  precaution 
has  been  taken  against  the  sad,  but  happily  unheard  of  neces- 
sity in  the  Roman  Church,  of  deposing  a  saintf 

*  An  English  Protestant  being  at  Rome,  a  Prelate  with  whom  he  was 
intimate,  showed  him  an  official  report  containing  the  examination  of 
several  miracles.  After  having  read  it  with  much  attention,  he  said,  as  he 
returned  it :  "  If  all  the  miracles  that  are  received  in  the  Roman  Church 
were  established  on  proofs  as  indisputable  as  these,  we  should  have  no 
difficulty  in  receiving  them."  "  Well ! "  answered  the  Prelate,  "  of  all 
those  miracles  which  appear  to  you  so  well  authenticated,  none  has 
been  admitted  by  the  Congregation  of  Rites,  because  they  were  not  con- 
sidered as  satisfactorily  proved."  (Vie  de  St.  J.  F.  Regis,  by  Father 
Daubenton,  book  iv.)  • 

t  The  head  of  the  Russian  Church  has  just  given  this  unheard  of 


FOUNDATION    FOR    THE    WOK  SHIP    OF    SAINTS.    247 

To  one  \vlio  doubts  the  miracles  by  which  God  signalises 
the  triumphant  entry  of  a  hero  into  heaven,  and  invites  men  to 
unite  their  acclamations  to  those  of  the  blessed,  I  would  say  : 
Reflect  for  a  moment,  and  you  will  see  even  in  the  worship 
of  the  saints  a  much  more  astonishing  miracle  than  those 
which  you  refuse  to  believe. 

That  the  Church  should  obtain  the  honors  of  public  wor- 
ship for  kings,  pontiffs,  and  popular  men,  who  have  died  sur- 
rounded by  the  testimonies  of  universal  veneration,  has  noth- 
ing in  it  surpassing  human  power.  But  that  she  should  have 
been  able  to  raise  from  the  dust  to  the  altar,  obscure  men, 
slaves,  servants,  herdsmen,  laborers,  poor  artisans,  and  men- 
dicants ;  that  she  should  have  brought  emperors,  kings,  and 
nobles  to  bow  before  the  remains  of  these  dregs  of  creation, 
to  transform  the  huts  they  inhabited  into  sumptuous  temples, 
and  to  choose  them  for  the  protectors  of  their  capitals  and 
their  estates,*  this  is  humanly  speaking  inexplicable. 

But  I  wish  to  examine  here  only  the  rn'oral  effect  of  these 
apotheoses.  It  is  immense.  Nothing  could  be  imagined  more 
adapted  to  preserve  the  great  from  pride,  the  humble  from 

example  of  the  public  degradation  of  a  saint.  Ten  years  since  the 
Emperor  Nicholas  solemnly  canonised  a  certain  person  named  Metro- 
phanes,  created  him  knight  of  all  the  orders  of  the  State,  ornamented 
his  tomb  with  the  different  decorations  of  these  orders,  and  instituted 
by  a  public  ukase  a  festival  in  his  honor,  to  be  celebrated  throughout 
the  empire.  But  afterwards  the  researches  of  some  learned  men  proved 
to  a  demonstration  that  Metrophanes  had  been  a  robber  on  the  high- 
way, and  that  for  this  reason,  according  to  an  ancient  custom  of  the 
Russians,  he  had  been  thrown  into  a  monastery,  to  undergo  perpetual 
imprisonment.  Consequently,  last  year  the  Emperor  caused  him  to  be 
degraded  in  the  same  manner,  depriving  him  of  all  his  decorations,  and 
publishing  a  new  ukase  to  prohibit  his  worship.  (.Znnates  de  Pliilos. 
cJirct.  torn.  xxiv.  p.  391.) 

*  It  is  sufficient  to  cite  St.  Genevieve,  a  shepherdess,  patron  of  Paris. 
St..  Isidore  a  laborer,  patron  of  Madrid.  St.  Zita,  a  servant  girl,  patron- 
ess of  Lucca.  St.  Benezet,  a  shepherd,  patron  of  Avignon,  &c. 


248  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

abjectncss,  to  inspire  them  with  the  reciprocal  sentiments  of 
esteem  and  charity,  and  to  recall  to  them  that  they  are  broth- 
ers, and  that  before  God  virtue  is  the  only  nobility. 

The  •world  which  is  all  error  and  corruption  *  has  also  its 
heros  and  its  festivals.  History,  poetry,  and  the  fine  arts, 
celebrate  in  a  thousand  ways  the  triumphs  of  pride,  ambition, 
cupidity,  and  luxury.  What  would  become  of  society  if 
religion  did  not  oppose  the  worship  of  all  the  virtues  to  the 
apotheosis  of  all  the  vices. 

Admiration  is  a  want  that  must  be  satisfied :  take  from  it 
its  legitimate  aliment,  the  spectacle  of  great  virtues,  it  will 
attach  itself  to  great  crimes.  In  those  places  where  Protest- 
antism has  over  thrownthe  statues  of  Christian  heroes,  irrelig- 
ion  and  cynicism  have  raised  them  in  honor  of  their  apostles. 
The  crowns  which  the  Genevese  youth  formerly  offered  at  the 
feet  of  Christ  and  his  mother,  it  now  offers  to  the  author  of 
the  Nouvelle  Heloise  and  of  the  Confessions.  The  visits  to 
the  sanctuary  of  the  Queen  of  Virgins  have  given  place  to 
the  pilgrimage  of  Ferney. 

Those  who  imagine  that  the  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth 
century  are  profound  thinkers,  who  have  promoted  the  pro- 
gress of  tJic  human  mind,  grossly  deceive  themselves.  Strang- 
ers to  the  knowledge  of  man  as  to  that  of  Christianity,  they 
were  only  iconoclasts,  and,  like  savages,  had  nothing  in  com- 
mon but  the  genius  of  destruction.  The  outrages  inflicted 
by  their  hands  on  the  monuments  of  Christian  art,  are  only  a 
feeble  image  of  the  barbarous  devastations  made  by  their 
pen  in  a  higher  department. 

*  I.  John  v.  19. 


UNITY    OF    THE    HUMAN    FAMILY.  249 


CHAPTER    LV. 

UNITY    OF    THE    HUMAN    FAMILY. — MISSION    ANB    FUNCTIONS 

OF    ADAM    AND    EVE. THEIR    FALL. CHOICE    OF    A    NEW 

MAN    AND    A    NEW   WOMAN. UNIVERSAL    EXPECT- 
ATION   OF  THE    VIRGIN-MOTHER. SALUTATION 

OF    THE    ARCHANGEL   TO    MARY. 

GOD  has  chosen  to  form  one  family  of  the  human  race : 
a  father  and  mother  were  needed  for  this  family. 

Adam  and  Eve  were  at  first  invested  with  this  high  dig- 
nity, and  it  would  be  strangely  degrading  their  office  to  limit 
it  to  the  propagation  of  the  race. 

In  the  plan  of  the  Creator,  Adam  is  not  a  man,  but  the 
man,  the  head,  the  king  of  humanity ;  he  holds  in  his  hands 
the  eternal  destinies  of  his  innumerable  children.  His  was 
the  sublime  mission  of  conducting  them  to  the  abodes  of 
glory  through  the  way  of  obedience ;  his,  the  terrible  power 
of  ruining  them  eternally  by  associating  them  in  his  rebellion  ! 

God  gives  him  support  that  he  may  not  sink  under  the 
weight  of  such  a  responsibility. 

The  influence  of  woman  in  the  family  is  incalculable.  If 
man  is  its  head,  woman  is  its  heart.  His  is  the  reason  which 
guides  to  wisdom  and  happiness ;  hers,  the  feeling  which  in- 
spires the  one  and  produces  the  other.  If  she  charms  and 
doubles  by  her  virtues  the  existence  of  her  husband,*  what 
blessings  does  she  not  pour  out  upon  her  children !  The 
least,  perhaps,  is  to  bear  them  a  few  months  in  her  bosom ; 
she  bears  them  all  her  life  on  her  heart.  She  lives,  she 
breathes  only  for  them.  Their  joys  are  her  joys,  their  griefs 
are  her  griefs.  Her  inventive  tenderness  has  consolation  for 

*  Mulieris  bontc  beatus  vir  :  numerus  enim  annorum  illius  duplex. 
(Eccles.  xxvi.  1.) 


250  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 


all  sorrow,  remedies  for  all  woes,  and  she  always  soothes 
those  which  she  cannot  heal.  As  her  hand  is  soft  and  deli- 
cate for  the  cares  which  the  body  demands,  so  are  her  words 
insinuating  and  subtile  to  penetrate  into  the  windings  of  the 
soul.  The  lessons  which  the  father  addresses  to  the  intellect, 
she  impresses  upon  the  heart ;  she  possesses  the  art  of  trans- 
forming precepts  into  virtuous  habits,  knowledge  into  feeling 
and  truth  into  love. 

Woman,  mistress  of  the  heart,  is  the  strongest  link  in  the 
family  tie.  Has  the  child  defied  paternal  authority  ?  the 
father  has  but  one  feeling,  that  of  indignation ;  one  thought, 
that  of  punishment.  The  justice  which  he  consults  before 
anything  else,  demands  rigid  satisfaction  as  the  preliminary 
of  pardon.  That  pride  which  has  misled  the  child,  prevents 
him  from  submitting ;  fear  keeps  him  at  a  distance.  The  se- 
paration would  be  eternal,  if  the  mother  were  not  there  to 
open  the  heart  of  the  criminal  to  repentance,  and  that  of  the 
father  to  clemency.  If  the  sight  of  the  fugitive  excites  a 
half-extinguished  anger,  the  mother  interposes,  and  the  tem- 
pest dies  away  before  this  sun  of  gentleness. 

The  mediation  of  the  religious  mother  is  not  less  powerful 
with  God.  Borne  on  the  wings  of  faith  and  love,  sentiments 
which  predominate  in  her,  her  prayers  quickly  reach  the 
Divine  heart.  Read  the  lives  of  the  saints;  you  will  find  few 
who  have  not  imbibed  virtue  with  their  mother's  milk,  or  who 
have  not  been  led  back  to  God  by  the  counsels,  the  example 
and  the  prayers  of  a  virtuous  mother.  The  heart  is  the  whole 
of  man,  and  a  good  heart  is  the  work  of  a  good  mother. 

Such  was  to  be  the  sublime  office  of  the  first  woman  in 
the  midst  of  the  immense  family,  of  which  she  was  to  be  the 
mother;  and  it  is  with  reason  that  she  received  from  man  a 
name  synonymous  with  life.* 

What  an  accession  of  glory  and  power  she  would  have 
*  Genes,  ill.  20. 


UNITY    OF    THE    HUMAN    FAMILY.  251 

acquired  for  herself  and  for  her  husband,  if,  faithful  to  her 
mission,  she  had  sustained  him  in  the  struggle  against  the 
tempter  and  decided  his  triumph  as  she  decided  his  defeat! 
All  the  generations  of  humanity  would  have  hailed,  from  age 
to  age,  by  a  unanimous  cry  of  gratitude  and  love,  the  two 
beings  to  whom,  next  to  God,  they  were  indebted  for  life  and 
happiness,  Adam  would  have  been  the  blessed  of  the  nations, 
Eve  the  woman  eternally  blessed. 

What  influence  would  they  not  have  exercised  over  God 
by  their  prayers,  when  confirmed  in  his  love  by  a  first  victory 
or  series  of  victories,  the  consequence  of  the  first,  they  would 
have  occupied  themselves  only  with  the  fate  of  their  child- 
ren who  were  still  subjected  to  temptation !  If  we  ima- 
gine that  one  among  them  had  yielded  to  it,  is  it  not  indubit- 
able that  he  would  have  found  in  Adam  and  Eve  powerful 
and  victorious  intercessors?  If  the  prayer  of  Moses  could 
annul  the  decree  of  death  which  had  gone  forth  against  his 
people,*  how  could  God  resist  the  supplications  of  the  Pa- 
rents of  the  human  race,  seconded  by  the  prayers  of  their 
children  who  had  remained  faithful  ? 

These  blessed  relations  with  God  and  their  posterity,  Adam 
and  Eve  lost  with  their  innocence.  Instead  of  imparting  life 
to  the  soul  and  body,  they  transmitted  double  death  to  the 
soul  and  body.  But  if  they  changed  their  office  God  did  not 
change  his  design. 

It  was  the  will  of  God  to  restore  the  human  family  who 
had  been  ruined  by  the  rebellion  of  its  head,  by  giving  it  a 
new  head.  As  we  have  received  death  by  the  disobedience 
of  the  first  Adam,  we  must  find  life  in  the  obedience  of  the 
second.  It  was  by  woman  that  Satan  triumphed  over  man ; 
it  is  by  woman  that  man  will  triumph  over  Satan. 

Let  us  listen  to  God  himself  as  he  announces  to  the  t\vo 
criminals  the  choice  which  he  has  made  of  a  new  man  and  a 
*  Rom.  v.  12. 


252          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

new  woman.  Addressing  the  conqueror,  this  warfare  which 
thou  th'nikest,  to  have  terminated  to  thy  own  advantage,  said  he, 
/  will  enkindle  between  thee  and  the  woman,  between  thy  race 
and  hers  ;  she  shall  break  thy  head.*  If  the  Christian  world 
has  constantly  recognised  Christ  the  Redeemer,  in  this  race  of 
the  woman  destined  to  crush  the  empire  of  the  devil;  it  must 
also  recognise  the  Mother  of  Christ  in  the  promised  woman. 

We  see  Mary,  then,  at  the  head  of  the  new  struggle  in 
which  hell  will  be  subdued,  as  Eve  has  been  the  first  in  the 
attack  in  which  man  fell. 

The  consoling  promise,  received  with  joy  by  our  unfortu- 
nate parents,  is  transmitted  from  generation  to  generation  and 
during  four  thousand  years,  all  nations  are  waiting  for  the 
blessed  Virgin  Mother  who  bears  in  her  bosom  the  salvation 
of  the  world. j 

The  race  of  Jacob  sigh  more  than  others  for  the  Siar 
which  was  to  rise  upon  it.|  The  prophets  of  the  Lord,  gave 
them  glimpses,  from  time  to  time,  by  the  most  touching 
images  of  that  woman  who  will  conceive  by  a  prodigy  new 
upon  the  carth.§  Here,  it  is  a  stem  that  rises  bearing  a 
divine  jlower ;  ||  there,  it  is  the  earth  opened  by  heaven  where 
the  Savior  buds.^ 

The  nation  was  just  sinking  under  the  blows  of  two  for- 
midable enemies.  God  sent  it  a  prophet  to  raise  its  courage  ; 
and  what  does  he  announce  ?  Behold,  a  Virgin  shall  con- 
ceive, and  bear  a  son,  and  his  name  shall  be  called  Emma- 
nuel.** Like  a  good  father  he  consoles  his  family  by  saying 
to  them :  Courage,  my  children,  your  mother  is  coming! 

At  length  the  time  is  accomplished ;  the  desired  of  nations 
arrives,  but  unknown  yet  to  men  and  to  herself;  the  Most 
High  is  about  to  reveal  to  the  world  its  deliverer,  and  to 

*  Gen.  iii.  15. 

f  Voy.  Troisieme  Icttre,  de  M.  Drach,  a  ses  corcligionnaires. 

J  Num.  xxiv.  17.  §  Jerein.  xxxi.  22. 

II  Isa.  xi.  1.  IT  Ibid.  xiv.  8.  **  Ibid.  vii.  14. 


PARALLEL    BETWEEN    EVE   AXD   MAIIY.         253 

Mary  the  prodigies  of  mercy  which  he  designs  to  perform  in 
her  and  by  her. 

Ye  who  accuse  us  of  elevating  Mary  too  high,  listen  to 
the  words  of  the  Celestial  Messenger,  addressed  to  the  Virgin 
of  Nazareth. 

Hail,  full  of  grace,  the  Lord  is  with  thee ;  Blessed  art 
thou  a?no?ig  women.  Behold  thou  shall  conceive  and  bring 
forth  a  son  ;  and  thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus.  He  shall  be 
great,  and  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Most  High,  &c..  &c.* 

What  are  all  the  praises  which  the  Church  has  always 
decreed  to  Mary,  whether  in  its  prayers,  by  the  mouth  of  its 
preachers,  or  the  pen  of  its  writers,  except  a  faint  commentary 
on  the  words  of  the  Archangel?  What  are  the  honors  which 
it  renders  her,  and  the  sentiments  of  gratitude,  love  and  con- 
fidence with  which  it  inspires  us  for  her,  if  not  the  natural 
and  legitimate  consequence  of  the  incomprehensible  dignity 
to  which  God  has  elevated  her,  and  the  innumerable  blessings 
which  we  have  received  by  her  interposition. 

But  in  order  better  to  conceive,  as  far  as  it  is  permitted  to 
our  weakness,  the  greatness  of  the  new  Woman  and  its  claim 
upon  our  homage,  let  us  resume  the  parallel  of  the  two  Eves 


CHAPTER    LVI. 

PARALLEL    OF    EVE    AND    MARY. PRE-EMINENCE    OF    MARY 

OVER    THE    FIRST    WOMAN. HER    CLAIM    TO    THE 

TITLE    OF    MOTHER    OF    MEN. 

WE  have  seen  that  the  mission  of  the  first  woman  was 
great  and  full  of  dignity  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  man ;  but  it 
was  conservative,  and  on  that  account  easy  to  fulfil.  In  order 

*  Luke  i.  23,  et  seq. 
VOL.  ii.  22 


254  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

to  guard  herself  from  the  seductions  of  hell,  and  rescue  from 
it  her  children  who  were  born  with  virtuous  inclinations,  Eve 
needed  only  a  common  degree  of  wisdom  and  virtue. 

The  work  entrusted  to  the  new  Woman,  on  the  contrary, 
was  one  of  great  difficulty.  If  Divine  omnipotence  was  re- 
quired in  the  hands  of  the  Son  to  overthrow  the  throne  of 
Satan,  which  had  been  strengthened  by  a  reign  of  forty  cen- 
turies, and  lead  back  into  the  way  of  holiness  a  world  which 
worshipped  every  vice,  did  not  the  Mother  need  a  boundless 
charity,  she  who  was  to  gather  into  her  bosom  numberless 
generations  of  wretched  beings  who  were  cast  by  Adam  and 
Eve  upon  an  accursed  world! 

God,  who  always  proportions  the  power  of  the  means  to 
the  greatness  of  the  end,  would  necessarily  show  himself 
lavish  of  his  grace  towards  Mary,  and  if  the  author  of  Eccle- 
siasticus  tells  us  that  Eve  received  it  in  large  measure*  the 
Archangel  Gabriel  teaches  us  that  Mary  had  received  it  in 
its  plenitude.!  As  the  new  Adam,  descending  from  heaven, 
must  surpass  Adam  formed  from  the  clay  of  the  earth,  in  the 
same  proportion  (save  the  infinite  distance  which  exists 
between  the  uncreated  Being  and  the  creature)  the  ^  irgin 
destined  to  be  the  mother  of  the  God- Man  must  surpass  the 
virgin  drawn  from  the  side  of  man.  Indeed,  only  a  little  at- 
tention is  necessary  to  what  Scripture  teaches  *us  of  both,  to 
comprehend  the  vast  difference  which  separates  them. 

In  the  plan  of  creation,  Eve  is  represented  only  in  the 
second  rank.  Adam  existed  and  had  received  the  investiture 
of  the  world  and  the  law  of  God,  before  she  appeared.  She 
came  forth  from  the  side  of  Adam  and  was  given  him  as  a 
companion.  It  is  Adam  from  whom  she  learns  her  origin 
and  her  destiny  and  from  whom  she  receives  her  name.J 

In  the  plan  of  re-generation  the  woman  occupies  the  first 
rank.  I  icill  put  enmities  between  tkec  and  the  woman,  &c. 

*  Ecclus.  xvii.  f  Luke  i.  23.  \  Gen.  ii.  23,  24. 


PARALLEL    BETWEEN   EVE    AXD   MARY.         255 

— A  Virgin  u-ill  conceive,  &c. — In  the  gospel,  Mary  appears 
before  Jesus.  She  does  not  come  forth  from  the  side  of  the 
God-Man,  but  the  God-Man  is  conceived  and  formed  in  her 
chaste  body ;  she  could  say  to  him  with  perfect  truth ;  thoii 
art,  bone  of  my  bone  and  flesh  of  my  flesh. 

It  was  not  the  new  Adam  from  whom  she  learned  her  des- 
tiny, and  who  gave  her  a  name ;  it  was  to  her  that  the  Most 
High  revealed  the  grandeur  of  his  Son,  and  conferred  upon 
her  the  right  of  bestowing  on  him  the  adorable  name  of  Jesus. 
She  was  not  only  the  aid  and  companion  of  the  Savior;  she 
was  his  mother,  and  in  this  quality,  she  commanded  for  thirty 
years,  Him,  before  whom  every  knee  must  bow,  in  Heaven,  on 
earth  and  in  Hell.* 

Heaven  did  not  reveal  to  the  first  woman  the  designs 
which  it  had  for  her;  it  did  not  ask  her  consent;  it  was 
without  her  knowledge  and  by  the  absolute  will  of  the  Crea- 
tor, that  she  was  called  to  share  the  sovereignty  of  the  world. 

God  dealt  differently  with  Mary ;  he  deigned  to  communi- 
cate to  her  the  great  mystery  by  a  prince  of  the  celestial 
court.  Mary  makes  her  own  conditions,  stipulates  the  pre- 
servation of  her  virginity,  and  the  act  of  the  Incarnation 
tcldch  for  so  many  ages  had  held  Heaven  and  earth  in 
expectation,  is  delayed  until  the  Virgin  has  consented  to  it.\ 

What  human  eye  can  measure  the  distance  from  the 
Mother  of  God  to  the  companion  of  Adam!  But  let  us 
continue,  Scripture  in  hand,  the  history  of  these  two  women. 

Eve  had  scarcely  come  forth  from  the  hands  of  the  Crea- 
tor, instructed  by  Adarn  in  her  duties,  than  we  see  her  con- 
versing with  the  angel  of  darkness,  plucking  the  fatal  fruit 
from  the  tree,  and  transmitting  death  from  her  own  person  to 
that  of  her  husband  and  to  all  posterity.  The  two  criminals, 

*  Luke  ii.  51. 

f  Bossuet,  I.  Sermon  pour  la  J\"atioit£  de  /a  Sainte  Vifrge,  III. 
Point. 


25G  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

filled  with  terror  and  confusion,  endeavor  to  conceal  them- 
selves from  their  own  eye  and  that  of  the  Creator.  Cod 
appears  and  announces  long  and  terrible  punishments. 

Mary,  after  her  interview  with  the  messenger  of  Heaven, 
had  no  sooner  conceived  the  Author  of  Life,  than  devoured 
by  the  flames  of  charity,  she  climbed  mountains  and  entered 
the  house  of  Elizabeth,  a  ray  of  life  from  her  entered  the 
bosom  of  her  cousin,  and  awakened  the  infant  who  was  sleep- 
ing there  in  the  shades  of  death.  The  greatest  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  having  become  the  first  of  the  adopted  children 
of  Mary,  celebrated  by  a  movement  of  joy  his  deliverance 
and  the  presence  of  his  divine  benefactress.  The  joy  of  the 
son  was  communicated  to  the  mother;  Elizabeth,  filled  with 
the  Holy  Spirit,  lavishes  upon  the  Mother  of  her  Lord  the 
tribute  of  her  love  and  reverence.  Mary  celebrates  in  a 
divine  canticle,  the  accomplishment  of  the  promise  which 
mitigated  the  decree  of  death,  long  before  uttered  in  Eden, 
and  the  streams  of  mercy  which  the  Lord  will  pour  forth 
through  her  over  all  generations.* 

Eve  brought  forth  her  first-born,  and  in  the  joy  which  she 
feels  at  finding  herself  the  mother  of  a  man,  she  called  him 
her  possession,]-  a  sad  possession,  indeed,  a  child  who  is  to 
become  the  first  fratricide,  and  people  the  earth  with  an 
impious  and  accursed  race ! 

Mary  brought  forth  her  only  son,  and  by  the  name  of 
Savior  which  she  gave  him,  she  announced  that  ho  was  the 
possessor  and  the  possession  of  the  world.  She  heard  the 
angels  celebrating  the  glory  which  he  will  render  to  God  and 
the  peace  he  will  bring  to  men.  She  saw  with  grief,  mingled 
with  joy  the  first  drop  of  blood  shed  by  him,  at  the  circum- 
cision, for  the  salvation  of  the  human  race.  She  offered  him 
as  the  victim  of  propitiation  on  the  altar  of  the  Most  Ilign, 
and  the  Most  High  announced  to  her,  by  the  prophet  Simeon, 
*  Luke  i.  46,  et  seq.  f  Gen.  iv.  1. 


PARALLEL    BETWEEN    EVE    AND    MARY.          257 

(hat,  associated  herself  in  the  sacrifice  of  her  Son,  (hs  turord 
of  sorrow  shall  pierce  her  soul.*  Hence  with  the  slow  mar- 
tyrdom of  the  Son,  began  the  slow  martyrdom  of  the  Mother, 
in  the  exile  which  they  endured  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  hard 
and  humiliating  life  which  they  led  in  Nazareth. 

The  Scripture  makes  no  more  mention  of  Eve  after  the 
birth  of  her  third  son  ;  but  her  work  survives  her.  The  error, 
crime,  misery  and  death  which  she  introduced  into  the  world 
continue  their  devastations  and  secure  to  her  name  a  sad 
immortality. 

The  office  of  Mary  expands  with  that  of  her  Son.  Jesus 
came  forth  from  his  long  and  obscure  retreat  of  Nazareth, 
was  present  with  some  disciples  at  the  nuptials  at  Cana,  and 
Mary  was  at  his  side.  Her  watchful  charity  perceived  the 
embarrassment  of  the  married  pair,  and  wishing  to  spare  them 
confusion,  she  asked  of  Jesus  a  miracle.  He  seemed  at  first 
to  repel  her  by  his  answer ;  but  this  answer  which  the  ene- 
mies of  the  worship  of  Mary  pervert,  contains  under  a  severe 
form,  a  magnificent  eulogium  upon  her  power.  What  do 
these  words,  indeed,  signify :  My  hour  is  not  yet  come,\  fol- 
lowed immediately  by  the  miracle  demanded,  except  that  the 
prayer  of  Mary  can  hasten  the  movement  of  Omnipotence 
and  abridge  the  delay  which  it  imposes ! 

This  miracle,  observes  the  evangelist  who  relates  it,  ths 
frsl  that  Jesus  worked,  manifested  his  glory,  and  his  disciples 
believed  in  him.\  Thus  it  was  by  the  ardor  of  her  charity 
and  the  power  of  her  praj-er  that  this  ever-blessed  Mother 
contributed  to  reveal  to  the  world  its  Savior,  and  planted  in 
the  heart  of  the  Apostles  that  faith  which,  some  years  after, 
covered  the  earth  with  its  flowers  and  fruits. 

Mary,  during  the  public  life  of  Jesus,  returned  to  her  life 
among  her  people,  and  was  seen  no  more  except  at  the  foot 
of  the  Cross.  How  can  the  presence  of  so  loving  a  mother 

*  Luke  ii.  33.  f  John  ii.  4  \  John  ii.  11. 

22* 


25S          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

at  so  heart-rending  a  spectacle  be  explained,  if  her  place  had 
not  been  designated  there  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  great 
mystery,  by  the  order  of  heaven ! 

Golgotha  is  the  divine  counterpart  of  the  infernal  drama 
of  Eden.  What  do  we  sec  on  both  sides?  A  tree,  a  man, 
a  woman,  the  invisible  demon  under  a  visible  form.  There 
is  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  evil,  loaded  with  the  fruit  of 
death;  here,  the  tree  of  salvation  bearing  the  fruit  of  life. 

There,  at  the  word  of  the  infernal  angel,  the  fruit  of  death 
fell  from  the  tree  into  the  lap  of  the  woman,  and  passed  from 
her  hands  into  those  of  the  man ;  and  these  two  corrupted 
beings,  united  by  the  instinct  of  pleasure,  introduced  a  stream 
of  death  into  the  veins  of  the  human  race. 

Here,  the  fruit  of  life,  conceived  in  the  Woman,  after  her 
interview  with  the  Celestial  Messenger,  passed  from  her  bosom 
into  her  arms,  and  thence  by  the  power  of  a  vast  chanty  was 
lifted  on  the  tree  of  the  Cross,  where,  cruelly  crushed  under 
the  weight  of  Divine  justice,  he  diffused  over  regenerated 
humanity  a  flood  of  blessings  and  of  life. 

There,  the  devil  crept  towards  the  feet  of  the  woman, 
and  offering  her  the  temptation  of  pleasure  and  of  grandeur 
he  brought  her  with  man  into  subjection,  and  precipitated 
both  into  an  abyss  of  grief  and  confusion. 

Satan,  at  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  appeared  to  triumph  over  the 
Woman  by  the  outrages  with  which  he  overwhelmed  her,  and 
the  rage  with  which  he  assailed  her  Son  ;  but  it  was  there  that 
the  victorious  foot  of  Mary  crushed  his  head,  and  before  leav- 
ing Calvary  the  Sorrowing  Mother  hears  heaven,  earth  and 
even  the  demons  of  hell  rendering  homage  to  the  Divinity  of 
her  Son,  and  at  the  same  time  to  her  Divine  Maternity.* 

But  the  point  to  which  we  should  particularly  give  our 
attention  in  the  comparison,  is  this  ;  Eve  having  brought  death 
into  the  world  by  drawing  man  into  rebellion,  lost  all  claim 

*  Matth.  xxvii.  51. 


DEVOTION1    TO    MAIIY.  2;3f) 


to  the  glorious  title  of  Mother  of  the  Living,  and  if  it  was 
given  her  by  Adam,  it  was  on  account  of  the  blessed  Daugh- 
ter full  of  grace  and  life  whom  God  announced  to  him  as 
proceeding  from  a  mother  blighted  by  sin  and  death. 

Mary,  delivering  up  her  soul  to  the  sword  of  grief  and  associ- 
ating herself  with  an  heroic  charity  to  the  sacrifice  of  her  Son, 
restores  us  to  life  by  him,  and  receives  in  her  maternal  arms 
the  family  of  the  children  of  God,  the  fruit  of  the  cruel  pangs 
of  Calvary.  Woman,  said  the  Savior  to  her,  just  before  ex- 
piring, behold  thy  Son,  showing  her  the  only  Christian  pres- 
ent ;  and  to  the  latter  he  said :  Behold  thy  Mother. 

Are  not  these  various  titles  sufficient  to  establish  the  rights 
of  Mary  to  the  veneration,  gratitude,  love  and  confidence  of 
the  Christian,  and  will  it  be  said  that  her  divine  substitution 
for  Eve  in  the  prerogatives  and  functions  of  common  mother 
of  the  children  of  God  is  an  illusion  ? 


CHAPTER    LVII. 

DEVOTION    TO    MAKY    INNATE    IN    THE    CHRISTIAN. FIRST 

SOURCE    OF    THIS    SENTIMENT. ITS    UNIVERSALITY. 

CONCLUSION. 

THE  question  which  now  occupies  us  is  one  of  the  heart 
rather  than  of  the  intellect. 

Can  a  true  Christian  be  found,  that  is  to  say,  one  animated 
with  a  sincere  love  for  Jesus  Christ,  who  does  not  turn  with 
gratitude  and  affection  towards  the  mother  who  bore  him  and 
whose  breast  has  nourished  him  !  Where  is  the  sinner  touched 
with  grief  for  his  faults,  and  struck  with  fear  of  the  judg- 
ments of  God,  who  does  not  invoke  with  confidence  that 
Mother  of  mercy  whose  persuasive  prayer  smooths  the  brow 


200  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

of  our  heavenly  Father,  and  who  covering  with  her  shadow, 
as  with  a  merciful  cloud,  the  guilty  earth,  defends  it  from  the 
fires  of  the  sun  of  justice,  and  transmutes  the  scathing  light- 
ning into  dew?* 

What  more  natural  than  for  the  unhappy  child  of  Eve  who 
daily  feels  the  poison  of  sin  circulating  in  his  veins,  to  have 
recourse  to  her  whom  heaven  has  chosen  to  dry  it  at  its 
source !  Does  not  the  same  faith  which  teaches  him  that  the 
blood  of  Christ  is  the  only  remedy  for  his  woes,  teach  him 
also  that  the  blood  of  Christ  is  the  blood  of  the  Virgin  ? 

We  are  accused  of  exalting  the  power  of  Mary  too  much 
liy  calling  her  the  dispenser  of  graces ;  but  is  it  not  through 
her  that  God  has  chosen  to  give  us  his  Son,  who  is  the  source 
of  all  graces  ?  It  is  called  a  crime  in  us  to  go  to  Jesus 
through  Mary ;  but  is  it  not  through  Mary  that  Jesus  has 
come  to  us?  Is  the  interposition  of  this  Divine  Mother  any- 
thing but  a  divine  fact  which  the  Catholic  does  not  create, 
but  which  he  recognizes  and  accepts? 

These  considerations,  like  all  those  which  we  have  hitherto 
developed,  are  no  doubt  adapted  to  justify  the  sentiment  of 
filial  piety  of  the  Catholics  towards  the  Mother  of  God ;  but 
they  do  not  create  it.  This  sentiment  has  an  origin  more  pro- 
found, more  intimate,  more  powerful ;  it  is  the  effect  of  the 
communication  which  Jesus  Christ  makes  us  of  his  life,  even 
the  voice  of  his  blood  which  flows  in  our  veins. 

Let  us  here  call  to  mind  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  Christian 
justification,  and  the  ineffable  union  which  the  sacraments 
establish  between  Christ  and  the  Faithful.  The  assured  effect 
of  baptism,  according  to  all  evangelical  principles,  is  to  make 
us  children  of  God  and  brothers  of  Jesus  Christ,  or  rather 
his  living  members ;  but  can  one  be  a  brother  of  Jesus  Christ 
without  being  a  child  of  Mary  ?  Can  we  live  according  to 

*  Ego  feci  in  coelis  utoriretur  lumen  indeficiens,  et  sicut  nebula  texi 
otnnem  terram.  (Eccles.  xxiv.  6.) 


DEVOTION    TO    MARY.  201 

his  moral  lift1,  and  be  animated  with  his  sentiments,  without 
sharing  his  tenderness  for  his  Mother?  Is  not  our  affiliation 
with  Mary  the  necessary  effect  of  our  transubstantialion  1o 
Christ  in  the  Eucharistic  Sacrament?  Can  the  blood  of  the 
Son  really  circulate  in  our  hearts  without  making  them  thrill 
with  love  for  the  Mother,  and  without  calling  down  upon  us 
all  the  tenderness  of  Mary  ? 

If  we  examine  this  subject  a  little,  we  shall  see  that  the 
devotion  towards  Mary  has  its  root  in  the  very  foundations 
of  Christianity,  that  it  is  the  logical  and  necessary  conse- 
quence of  the  intimate  relations  of  Christ  with  his  members; 
we  shall  see  even  in  the  profound  indifference  of  the  parti- 
sans of  Reform  for  the  Mother  an  unequivocal  proof  of  their 
rupture  with  the  Son. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  and  one  which  proves  how  naturally 
the  devotion  to  Mary  finds  its  place  in  the  Christian  soul,  that 
among  the  number  of  Protestants  who  are  every  day  return- 
ing to  Catholicism,  there  are  scarcely  any  who  experience 
the  least  repugnance  to  this  devotion.  Many  had  even  long 
cherished  in  their  heart  a  profound  veneration  for  the  Mother 
of  Christ,  and  were  afflicted  at  the  cruel  neglect  in  which 
Protestant  worship  had  buried  her.  Let  us  listen  to  the  words 
of  a  man  whose  return  is  at  this  moment  giving  joy  to  the 
Catholic  world. 

"  From  my  earliest  j'ears,"  says  M.  Hurter,  "  without 
seeking  instruction  from  any  book,  without  entering  into  any 
discussion,  without  possessing  any  knowledge  of  Catholic 
teaching  with  regard  to  the  Mother  of  God,  I  felt  myself 
penetrated  with  an  inexpressible  veneration  for  her.  I  ima- 
gined in  her  the  advocate  of  the  Christian,  and  from  the 
depths  of  my  heart  I  addressed  myself  to  her  in  the  retire- 
ment of  my  private  life."* 

*  Exposl  dts  motifs  qui  ont  decidt  son  retour  dans  le  sein  de 
rEgliss  CathoUque.  (See  L'Jlmi  de  la  Religion,  Sept.  C»th,  1844.) 


2G2  THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

To  these  testimonies  of  the  naturally  Christian  soul  in 
favor  of  the  worship  of  Mary,  to  this  mass  of  Biblical  facts 
and  Christian  arguments  which  conspire  to  justify  it,  what 
can  its  miserable  detractors  oppose  ? 

They  demand  one  passage  of  Scripture  which  prescribes, 
or  at  least  authorises  this  worship.  But  has  not  Christ  said 
to  us  all,  in  the  person  of  the  well-beloved  disciple,  behold 
your  Mother!  as  he  commanded  us  all  in  the  person  of  the 
Apostles,  receive  and  eat;  this  is  my  body.*  Do  not  the 
Scriptures  show  us  every  where  Mary  fulfilling  towards  us 
the  office  of  the  most  devoted  Mother,  and  submitting  her 
heart  to  the  most  dreadful  tortures  in  order  to  restore  to  us 
the  most  precious  of  lives  ?  What  more  is  necessary  for  well- 
disposed  children  ?  What  can  we  think  of  that  heart  which, 
in  presence  of  the  best  of  Mothers,  would  wait  for  the  order 
to  love  her! 

If  the  words  of  Scripture  are  needed  to  authorise  the 
hoHors  which  we  render  to  Mary,  the  Holy  Spirit  himself 
announced,  by  the  mouth  of  Mary,  the  concert  of  benedic- 
tions which  will  be  eternally  ascending  to  her  from  the  midst 
of  all  the  generations  of  humanity;  "And  behold  from  this 
moment  all  generations  shall  call  me  blessed.] 

Where  among  us,  we  would  ask  of  our  separated  brethren, 
is  that  public  testimony  of  veneration  and  love  towards  the 
Mother  of  the  God-Savior  ?  For  the  three  centuries  of  your 
existence,  what  are  the  monuments  which  you  have  reared  in 
the  midst  of  you  in  her  honor  ?  For  monuments  are  the 
voice  of  the  people,  the  sensible  expression  of  their  thought. 

*  We  may  find  a  learned  and  splendid  demonstration  of  what  we  can 
here  only  hint  at,  in  the  work  of  Father  Ventura,  La  Madre  di  Dio, 
Madre  degli  Uomini,  &c.  Rome,  1841 ;  and  we  are  happy  to  be  able 
to  announce  to  our  readers,  that  the  Lyonese  press  will  soon  give  to 
France  an  excellent  translation  of  this  work. 

f  Luke  i.  48. 


DEVOTION    TO    MARY.  2G3 

What  do  we  discover  in  our  cities  and  our  villages  which 
recalls  the  memory  of  Mary,  but  the  ruins  of  temples  and 
the  shapeless  fragments  of  statues  which  the  piety  of  your 
Catholic  fathers  had  dedicated  to  her?  What  do  we  find  in 
your  sacred  orators  and  writers,  but  a  torrent  of  calumnies, 
insults  and  sarcasms  against  the  servants  of  the  common 
Mother. 

It  is  inconceivable  and  even  deplored  by  one  of  your  most 
able  ministers,  that  the  Woman  by  pre-eminence — she  whom 
heaven  has  exalted  far  above  all  women — is  precisely  the 
only  one  whose  praises  and  whose  name  your  worship  pre- 
scribes.* Is  this  knowing  and  honoring  Christ?  Do  3*011 
believe  that  he  who  was  so  sensible  of  the  least  favor,  and 
who  wished  that  the  memory  of  the  woman  who  shed  pre- 
cious perfume  upon  his  head,  should  be  spread  as  far  and 
endure  as  long  as  the  Gospel,  that  he  would  approve  among 
Christians  this  disgraceful  neglect  of  the  incomparable  Mother 
who  formed  him  of  her  flesh  and  blood,  nourished  him  with 
her  milk,  followed  him  to  the  foot  of  the  Cross,  and  received 
in  her  arms  his  inanimate  remains !  Let  us  review  all  the 
Christian  ages,  and  find  if  we  can,  one  of  them  which  has 
not  realised  the  prophetic  language  of  Mary  by  striking  de- 
monstrations of  its  piety  towards  her.  What  religious  emu- 
lation to  celebrate  and  honor  the  Mother,  among  all  people 
who  have  known  and  adored  the  Son !  We  no  where  dis- 
cover that  solitary  and  abstract  Christ,  dreamed  of  by  the 
founders  of  your  worship,  but  Christ  as  he  showed  himself  to 
the  eye  of  the  prophets,  as  he  appears  in  the  Gospel ;  a  child 

*  "  No  one  dares  to  speak  of  Mary.  And  yet  when  theological  pre- 
judice is  no  longer  present  to  oppose  good  sense  and  reason,  true 
natural  feeling  takes  the  ascendency,  and  ministers  discourse  at  the 
cemetery  or  in  the  temple,  upon  the  men  and  women  whom  they  in- 
ter." (M.  C.  A.  Muller,  Des  Beaux-Arts  et  de  la  Langne  des 
signes,  &.C.,  p.  42.) 


2G4          THE    SOLUTION    OF    GREAT    PROBLEMS. 

of  the  Virgin,  long  borne  in  her  bosom  and  in  her  arms,  ful- 
filling towards  her  for  thirty  years  the  duties  of  the  most 
obedient  Son,  expiring  under  her  eyes,  and  still  reposing  in 
her  arms  before  passing  from  the  Cross  to  the  sepulchre. 

Let  us  interrogate  all  tho  Christian  nations;  we  shall  not 
find  one  of  the  great  voices  of  Christianity  from  the  first  sue 
cessors  of  Peter  to  Gregory  XVI.,  from  Ignatius,  Irenscus, 
Epiphanius,  Cyril,  Ambrose  and  Augustine,  to  Bossuet  and 
Fenelon,  who  has  not  entoned  a  hymn  of  praise  to  Mary ; 
not  a  sovereign  dear  to  religion,  who  has  not  wished  to  reign 
under  her  auspices;  not  an  illustrious  name  in  science,  litera- 
ture or  the  fine  arts,  who  has  not  consecrated  to  her  some  of 
his  vigils.  How  many  great  works  in  every  department  have 
been  inspired  by  devotion  to  Mary! 

What  year  has  passed  when  the  faithful  have  not  repeat- 
edly thronged  to  the  foot  of  her  altars  to  solemnise  her  fes- 
tivals; what  week  of  which  they,  have  not  consecrated  one 
day  to  her  memory ;  what  day  when  the  bell  does  not  summon 
them  to  address  to  her  the  angelical  salutation.  There  is  no 
city  where  she  has  not  a  temple,  no  temple  where  she  has 
not  an  altar,  no  altar  which  does  not  present  some  memorial 
of  the  confidence  of  the  children  and  the  bounty  of  the 
Mother. 

And  when  has  this  universal  sentiment  of  tender  devotion 
to  Mary,  which  we  see  triumphing  over  the  sarcasms  of  im- 
piety and  heresy,  as  well  as  over  the  destroying  influence  of 
time,  when  has  it  appeared  with  more  energy  than  in  our  age 
of  coldness  and  indifference !  Admirable  instinct  of  tho 
Christian  family !  it  is  at  a  time  when  the  hissing  of  the  ser- 
pent makes  itself  most  loudly  heard  and  his  last  venom  is 
distilled,  that  on  all  sides  rise  the  most  ardent  prayers  towards 
her  who  has  bruised  his  head ;  it  is  at  a  time  when  infamous 
inventors  of  romance  penetrate  the  deepest  folds  of  the  human 
heart  to  introduce  into  it  their  corruption,  that  the  shepherds 


DEVOTION    TO    MARY.  265 

and  their  flocks  seek  an  asylum  in  the  Immaculate  Heart 
whose  ineffable  purity  is  never  tarnished  by  a  breath  of  impu- 
rity.* As  children  in  extreme  peril,  they  are  not  satisfied 
with  pressing  around  their  mother  and  taking  refuge  in  her 
arms,  but  they  throw  themselves  upon  her  bosom. 

My  beloved  separated  brethren,  for  a  moment  impose 
silence  upon  prejudices  which  are  no  less  repugnant  to  the 
feelings  than  the  understanding  of  the  Christian,  and  ask 
yourselves  if  that  is  not  the  true  family  of  Christ,  where  his 
Divine  Mother  is  most  reverently  cherished  and  honored. 

*  Arch-confraternity  of  the  Holy  and  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary, 


THE    END. 


VOL.  ir.  23 


CONTENTS    OF  VOLUME    II. 


CHAPTER.  PAGE 

I. — WHAT  it  is  to  be  a  Christian,         -  -  -5 

II. — Idea  of  faith. — Its  necessity,  ...  7 

III. — Powerlessness  of  reason. — Pretensions  of  the  phil- 
osophy of  the  present  day. — Necessity  of  reve- 
lation, -  -  9 
IV. — Existence  of  revelation. — Extravagance  of  Ration- 
alism,       -                                                                   12 
V. — Sketch  of  Christian  communions. — Could  they  all 
be  the  work  of  Christ  ? — Latitudinarian  system. 
— Its  principles,           -            -            -                   15 
VI. — Absurdity  of  the  first  hypothesis. — Nature  and  neces- 
sity of  mysteries,              -            -            -              19 
VII. — Falseness  of  the  second  hypothesis. — Doctrinal  intol- 
erance of  Christ  and  his  Apostles,       -                   25 
VIII. — Necessity  of  doctrinal  intolerance. — Absurdity  of  the 

third  hypothesis,  -    ~  -  27 

IX— Rule  of  Faith.— Protestant  rule.— Catholic  rule,    -       31 
X. — The  Protestant  principle  finds  nothing  which  does 
not  condemn  it  in  the  bible,  and  in  the  history 
of  the  apostolic  times,      ...  33 

XI. — Worthlessness  of  passages  of  scripture  cited  in  sup- 
port of  Protestant  principles. — Its  true  origin,      37 
XII. — Difficulties  of  the  Protestant  principle  in  practice ; 
first  difficulty :  Every  Protestant  must  make  a 
Bible  for  himself,        -  -  -  -      4 1 

XIII. — Second  difficulty  of  the  Protestant  principle. — Every 

Protestant  must  read  the  Bible  in  the  original,      45 
XIV. — Third  difficulty  :  Every  Protestant  is  bound  to  read 

and  examine  the  Bible  in  all  its  parts,    -  43 


2G8  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAOK 

XV. — Fourth  difficulty :  Every  Protestant  must  assure  him- 
self that  he  has  read  the  whole  Bible,  -       51 
XVI. — Can  the  Protestant  principle  produce  Christians  ?         54 
XVII. — What  men  does  the  Protestant  principle  form  ? — 
What  would  a  Christian  be  according  to  its 
method,      -  56 
XVIII. — Application  of  the  Protestant  principle  to  the  con- 
version of  Infidels. — Circulation  of  the  Bible. — 
Its  results,        -  59 
XIX." — Why  have  there  been,  and  why  are  there  still  be- 
lievers in  the  bosom  of  Protestantism. — Con- 
clusion,    -                                                                   64 
XX. — Catholic  principle. — Its  immoveable  foundations  in 

the  Gospel,      -  -      69 

XXI. — Harmony  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  with  biblical 

principles,  72 

XXII. — Exaggerated  contempt  of  the  reformers  for  tradition. 
— Faithlessness  of  their  historians. — Historical 
foundations  of  Catholicity,  -  -  77 

XXIII. — Harmony  of  the  Catholic  principle  with  the  general 

system  of  the  divine  government,  83 

XXIV. — Mysterious  character  of  truth. — Weakness  of  the  in- 
tellect.— Necessity  for  an  infallible  authority.       87 
XXV. — Absurd  task  which  Protestantism  imposes  on  youth. 
— Disavowal  of  its  theory  in  practice,  and  the 
homage  which  it  renders  to  the  Catholic  prin- 
ciple,    -  90 
XXVI. — Objections. — How    the    Catholic    believes    in    the 

Church,       -  94 

XXVII. — The  same  subject  continued. — Security  of  the  Catho- 
lic in  his  faith. — Perpetual  fluctations  of  the 
Protestant,  -  -  OS 

XXVIII. — Parallel  between  Protestants  returning  to  Catholi- 
cism and  Catholics  who  become  Protestants. — 
Remarkable  fact,  -  Jlhi 

XXIX. — Application  of  the  Catholic  principle  to  the  conver- 
sion of  infidels. — South  Sea  missions,  -     109 
XXX. — On  the  pretended  despotism  of  the  Catholic  Church. 
— Intellectual  independence  of  the  Catholic. — 
His  security  against  arbitrary  power,  -     115 


CONTENTS.  269 


CHAPTKR.  PAGE. 

XXXI. — Of  the  pretended  enfranchisement  of  thought  by 
Protestantism. — Spiritual  despotism  of  Sove- 
reigns.— Evangelical  church  of  Prussia,  -  121 
XXXII. — The  same  subject  continued. — Actual  Protestantism. 
— Enthusiastic  sects. — Rationalists. — Servility 
of  both,  -  -  127 

XXXIII. — Advantages    of   the    Catholic    method. —  Religious 

equality  and  unity. — Conclusion,        -  132 

XXXIV. — Christian  deification   of   man. — Grace. — Its  defin- 
ition, its  necessity. — Sacraments,  135 
XXXV. — Foundation  of  the  Catholic  theory  of  justification. — 
Fall  of  man. — Redemption. — How  it  is  applied 
to  us,                                                     -            -     138 
XXXVI. — A  glance  at  the  sacraments. — Purgatory. — Prayers 

for  the  dead. — Worship  of  saints,  -  141 

XXXVII. — Theory  of  the  first  reformers  concerning  sin. — Jus- 
tification.— Good  works. — The  sacraments,     -     147 
XXXVIII. — The  Eucharist,  real   presence   of  Jesus  Christ. — 

Universal  influence  of  this  doctrine,        -  152 

XXXIX. — Perpetuity  of  faith  in  the  real  presence. — Inventors 
of  the  figurative  presence. — Contradiction  and 
dishonesty  of  the  Sacramentarians,  -  -  160 

XL. — Objections  against  the  possibility  of  the  real  pres- 

ence.-Analogous  mysteries  in  the  natural  order,    163 
XLI. — Functions  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Eucharist. — Fun- 
damental idea  of  sacrifice. — Its  universality. — 
Eucharistic  sacrifice. — Effect  of  its  abolition  in 
Protestant  worship,  -        .172 

XLI  I. — Moral  influence  of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  soul  in  the 
Eucharist. — Virtues  of  which  he  gives  the  ex- 
ample.— Connection  of  the  Eucharist  with  Pen- 
ance,   -  -     179 
XLIII. — Principles  of  Luther  concerning  Penance. — Prin- 
ciples of  the  Catholic  Church. — Contrition.         134 
XLIV. — Confession. — It  is  natural. — Different  kinds  of  absolu- 
tion.— Necessity  and  universality  of  confession,     ISO 
XLV. — Moral  and  social  influence  of  confession. — Acknow- 
ledgment of  unbelievers. — Omnipotence  of  this 
practice  in  the  moral  education  of  man. — Con- 
nection between  Confession  and  Communion,     194 


270  COSfTENTS. 


CHAPTER.  PAGl 

XLVI. — Divinity  of  confession. — Absurdity  of  the  contrary 
opinion. — Objection  that  it  degrades  man. — 
Results  of  its  abolition,  ...  201 

XLVII. — Sacrament  of  ordination. — Celibacy. — Its  intimate 

connection  with  the  priesthood,  -  207 

XLVIII. — Social  importance  of  religious  celibacy. — Position 
of  the  Priest  in  society. — Nullity  and  inconve- 
nience of  a  married  priesthood,  -  -    213 
XL1X. — Barrier  which  the  Catholic  priesthood  opposes  to 
despotism. — Weakness  of  conslitutional  guar- 
antees.— Political  necessity  for  the  distinction 
of  power  into  spiritual  and  temporal. — Immense 
services  which   Catholicism   has  rendered  to 
liberty,    -  218 
L. — Confirmation   of   the   preceding. — Appeals   of   the 
episcopate  in  favor  of  liberty  of  teaching. — Uni- 
versity question  in  its  true  light. — Reflections,      226 
LI. — Eternal    worship. — Its  necessity. — Beauty   of   the 
Catholic  worship. — Nullity  of  Protestant  wor- 
ship.— It  is  illogical. — Vain  efforts  to  restore 
it  to  life,                                                               -     232 
LI  I. — Objections  against  the  Catholic  warship. — Multipli- 
city of  ceremonies. — Use  of  Latin,          -  235 
LIII. — Worship  of  Saints. — Why  rejected  by  Protestant- 
ism.— Foundation  of  this  worship,      -            -     233 
LIV. — Natural  foundation  for  the  worship  of  Saints. — Its 

moral  influence,  -  244 

LV. — Unity  of  the  human  family. — Mission  and  functions 
of  Adam  and  Eve. — Their  fall. — Choice  of  a 
new  man  and  a  new  woman. — Universal  ex- 
pectation of  the  Virgin  mother. — Salutation  of 
the  Archangel  to  Mary,  -  2-19 

LVI. — Parallel  of  Eve  and  Mary. — Pre-eminence  of  Mary 
over  the  first  woman. — Her  claim  to  the  title 
of  mother  of  men.  -  253 

LVII. — Devotion  to  Mary  innate  in  the  Christian. — First 
source  of  this  sentiment. — Its  universality. — 
Conclusion.  .....  259 


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